%%Old splash pic: http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hitman_Cover_7596.jpg[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HitmanAbsolution_7517.png]][[caption-width-right:350:Death is his business and his business is good.]]

->''"This room. This bullet. There's a bullet for everyone... and a time, and a place. An end."''

''Hitman'' is a series of [[ThirdPersonShooter third]] / [[FirstPersonShooter first person action]] {{Stealth Based Game}}s created by Danish developer [=IO=] Interactive, a division of Eidos which is now a part of SquareEnix.

!!!To date, there have been five games released in the series, with a sixth entry being a remake:** ''Hitman: Codename 47'' (2000)** ''Hitman 2: Silent Assassin'' (2002)** ''Hitman: Contracts'' (2004)** ''Hitman: Blood Money'' (2006)** ''Hitman: Absolution'' (2012)** ''Hitman HD Trilogy'' (UpdatedRerelease of ''Silent Assassin'', ''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money'', released in 2013 for Playstation3 and XBox360.)

A sequel to ''Absolution'' is in the works, according to an open letter posted online by [=IO=] Interactive. Two mobile games based on the Hitman series are being developed by Square Enix Montréal; ''Hitman [=GO=]'', a [[GenreShift turn-based puzzle game]], and ''Hitman Sniper'', which will be similar to the Sniper Challenge included with ''Absolution''.

There have also been two tie in novels- ''Enemy Unknown'' and ''Damnation'', written (respectively) by William C. Dietz and Raymond Bensen.

Each title follows the story of the "Cloned Super Assassin" and eponymous Hitman, Agent 47, as he executes various contracts around the globe. Cold, merciless and pragmatic to a fault, 47 never fails to complete his mission, even if it means taking the lives of innocent civilians.

Despite this, 47 prides himself on professionalism, and the game will reward players for taking the stealthiest and least bloody route to achieve their objectives.

''Hitman'' has developed a strong fan-base over the years, and remains a popular series to this day.

In 2007 it received a film adaptation, described [[Film/{{Hitman}} here]]. A second film adaptation [[{{Reboot}} unrelated]] to the first titled ''Hitman: Agent 47'' is set to be released by TwentiethCenturyFox in August, 2015.

If you're looking for the trope for the hitman character type, see ProfessionalKiller.

If you're looking for the comic book by Creator/GarthEnnis that {{Crosses The Line|Twice}} several billion times, [[Comicbook/{{Hitman}} look no further!]]

----!! The ''Hitman'' series contains examples of :

* HundredPercentCompletion: In ''Absolution'', there are 278 challenges (essentially mini-achievements) to obtain by killing the target in various ways and utilizing different disguises. Fortunately you only have to complete 100 of them in order to obtain the "Grand Master" achievement/trophy. * AKA47: Your default "Silverballers" are a pair of AMT Hardballers, a notoriously-flawed pistol which nevertheless appears in a lot of JohnWoo movies.** There is a reason for this: in ''Codename 47'' they were called Hardballers. They became 47's signature weapons in ''Silent Assassin'', heavily modified and now called Silverballers (though only 47 calls them that).*** Ironically enough, the Hardballer is often referred to as a clone of the .45 ACP Colt M1911.** The games in general avoid using real names for the firearms. This is usually done either by giving them a generic designation such as "9mm pistol" or "revolver", or by taking the weapon's real name and shortening it. For example, a SIG Sauer P220 becomes a "SG 220".* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: A notorious biker gang's leaders are marked in ''Contracts''.* AllCrimesAreEqual:** If a guard sees you gun down a civilian in cold blood, he'll shoot you in the face. If a guard sees you running in public wearing nothing except a pair of swimming trunks, he'll shoot you in the face. If a guard sees you walk into the EMPLOYEES ONLY bathroom, he'll sternly warn you. Then shoot you in the face.** Taken to extremes in the New Orleans level of ''Blood Money'', where a bouncer for a perfectly normal bar will shoot you in the face without warning for ''walking into a party without chef clothes''.** In a funny sort of way, also applies to the targets 47 gets hired to take out. Ruthless, amoral arms dealer? Death. Highly skilled hacker? Death. Spoiled rich kid who accidentally kills a stripper in a drunken rage? Death. A too curious journalist and an innocent priest? Death. He's simply just the man paid for the job.** ''Absolution'' averts this somewhat. Entering a low-level restricted area without a disguise will first result in a warning, followed by an arrest if the player lingers, and the "shoot on sight" rules will only apply in the highest security areas, or during missions where certain types of enemies are actively hunting 47.* TheAllSeeingAI: In any level of ''Blood Money'' in which 47 must avoid or eliminate rival assassins before they can get him, the rivals can always see through his disguise instantly, whatever it might be.* AlreadyDoneForYou: The opening level of ''Contracts'', "Asylum Aftermath", picks up right where the original game left off. As such, there's nothing to do in the basement but stroll past the corpses of the Mr. 48s. ** This extends to the enemies, as well. The ghoulish orderlies are armed with puny stun guns, and they're quickly riddled with bullets fired by the police, besides.** The final level, "Hunter and Hunted", is similar in that the pause menu lists two of 47's targets as already hit. These two targets had [[AnachronicOrder already been assassinated in a corresponding mission in ''Blood Money'']] (although they appear under different names here).* AmazonBrigade: [[http://imgur.com/lusmM "The Saints"]] in ''Absolution''.* AmericanAccents: ''Blood Money'' takes 47 to New Jersey, California, the Rockies, UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, the DeepSouth, Las Vegas and Washington D.C.; appropriately, a wide range of accents are represented.** ''Absolution'' alternates between Midwestern accents for the missions in Chicago, and Southwest accents for those taking place in Hope, South Dakota.* AnachronicOrder: ''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money'' are all over the shop. In chronological order, the individual missions would go: the second mission of ''Blood Money'', the third mission of ''Blood Money'', the entirety of ''Contracts'' (which itself consists primarily of flashbacks to earlier missions, [[UpToEleven which are themselves not in chronological order]]), the first mission of ''Blood Money'' and then the fourth mission of ''Blood Money'' onwards.* AnAxeToGrind: The fire axe in ''Silent Assassin''. The loading screen to the level [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "A Basement Killing"]] has 47 menacingly brandishing it.** Axes are found in a few of the missions in ''Absolution''. They can be used as throwing objects (to distract, or to hit someone with) or to kill someone from behind.* AntiVillain: The Agency and Agent 47, as ''almost'' all of their targets are terrorists, scumbags, and all-around evil.* ArmorIsUseless: In ''Absolution'', body armor seems to make almost no difference with regards to how much damage an enemy can take; if it makes any difference at all, it's only against low caliber rounds at long range. Only SWAT officers and Agency heavy troopers, who wear the heaviest armor in the game, can survive noticeably more damage than normal. ** Averted in ''Contracts'', where disguising yourself as a SWAT officer will increase your damage resistance. ''Blood Money'' allows you to buy body armour as an upgrade.* ArtificialStupidity: The AI is generally pretty good, but it has quirks that can easily be exploited. For example, you can walk up to a target, drop a mine in front of him, walk away, and detonate it. No bystanders will point you out or otherwise alert security.* ArtisticLicenseGeography:** The "A Vintage Year" mission in ''Blood Money'' is set on Chile, in a winery/drug-lab described to be outside Santiago. The place happens to be in the middle of a rainforest with an enormous waterfall behind it. There are no rainforests to be found in Chile, specially around Santiago, which is a semi-arid and subtropical region.*** The Valdivian Temperate Rainforests and Magellanic Subpolar Rainforests are mostly in Chile, though far south from the wine-producing regions. There are still some forests near Santiago, though given the low amount of rainfall (360 mm on a good year), they're not at all dense.* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Subverted in ''Absolution'', where a county judge in the South Dakota courthouse turns out to be wearing a [[HollywoodDressCode terribly stereotypical, very geographically misplaced and slightly anachronistic British ceremonial Lord Chancellor's wig and robes]]. Then it turns out he is just a [[ForeignCultureFetish very enthusiastic anglophile]] who has also draped his office in Union Flags.* ArtisticLicenseReligion: At the Muldoon Wedding Mission in ''Blood Money'', everyone addresses the priest as "Padre", even though that is a title reserved for Roman Catholic priests only (and since this wedding is an incredibly stereotypical hillbilly affair, what with the indescriminate shooting in the air, square dancing, boozing moonshine and taking place in a godforsaken Missouri bayou, one can safely assume the priest to be staunchly Protestant as well). [[JustifiedTrope Then again, most of the guests are either very drunk or not very smart]]...* {{Asexuality}}:** Agent 47 is normally portrayed to be asexual, though there are some good reasons- number one, he is a clone engineered to be the perfect killer, and two- he has almost no social interactions with anyone at all except for Diana. In a scene in the first game, 47 rescues a Chinese prostitute from a brothel in Hong Kong. When thanking him, she kisses him goodbye- to which he actually recoils in disgust.** Interestingly, in the third game, which consists of 47's flashbacks of past missions, addled quite a bit with his own subconscious, his reaction to the prostitute's kiss is more one of surprise and bafflement than disgust, which is the only time he is seen smiling. So perhaps he's not asexual, but simply too socially awkward to show his sexual side.*** Going by real-world psychology, having a mild or no reaction to the kiss would suggest asexuality more than a strong emotional reaction, even if it is disgust.** ''Absolution'' invokes this with the Blackwater Hotel mission. [[spoiler:Following Layla into her panic room while not on alert will result in her attempting to seduce 47, only to try and shoot him; while easy to miss, 47 automatically equips his Silverballers, ''[[NotDistractedByTheSexy suggesting he wasn't all that distracted.]]'']]*** ''Absolution'' seems to have this as a recurring theme. Most (possibly even all) of Agent 47's marks in this game are sexual deviants, perverts, or weirdos in some fashion, whereas the only "heroic" characters (if they can truly be called that) are reserved, polite, and not sexually inclined in any visible way at all. 47 is his traditional completely unfazed self, Victoria is virginal and sweet. [[spoiler:Diana, who does in fact survive 47's hit on her, is as professional as ever, though she's somewhat warmer than in previous games.]]* AsianAndNerdy: The [[GeekPhysiques fat hacker]] named Charlie Sidjan in ''Silent Assassin''. Where ''are'' they packing those revolvers?* AssassinOutclassin:** The objective of the ''Blood Money'' mission "A Murder of Crows" is to kill other assassins before they can kill their target.** Also the objective in the penultimate mission. In this case, the target you have to protect is [[spoiler:the President of the United States]].** ''Absolution'' has "Attack of the Saints", a level in which 47 has to assassinate a group of [[BadHabits killer nuns]] as they hunt for their target. Namely, you.* AssholeVictim: Almost all of 47's victims tend to be either criminals or just plain corrupt individuals. There are exceptions, such as a [[YouHaveFailedMe private investigator that has failed his job and was captured]], a journalist who got too close (and was also captured), [[spoiler:another journalist and a priest]], and an unlucky amusement park owner whose unmaintained ride accidentally caused the death of the client's son (and several other people)... and hired a hitman to dispose of any naysayers.* TheAtoner: 47 at the beginning of ''Silent Assassin''. However, he soon returns to his career, if only to initially save the priest who took him in. [[spoiler:At the end, he leaves the Priest to go back to working for the Agency.]]* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:** A few of the major super-criminals, notably Pablo Ochoa in the first game, BigBad Sergei Zavrotko in the second game, and Lee Hong in the first and third games can survive significantly more damage than standard Mooks (they can take a few dozen 9mm rounds to the chest, as opposed to just 2 or 3 for everyone else). They all die instantly from headshots or assault rifle fire, though, so it's not too noticeable. In ''Blood Money'', final villain [[spoiler: Jack Alexander]] has a little over twice as much health as a standard enemy despite being a half-crippled man in a wheelchair, and is also equipped with one of the game's best pistols. Likewise, Blake Dexter. in ''Absolution'' isn't quite as tough as some of the villains from the earlier games, but can still survive noticeably more damage than the basic Mooks and is equipped with one of the best weapons in the game.** May be justified in that these guys would be expected to be wearing body armor. ** And also Pablo Ochoa was coked up to the eyeballs, causing a [[Film/{{Scarface 1983}} Tony Montana]] style fight. If you bring along a sniper rifle, you can put a bullet to his head through a window before he snorts the cocaine, killing him instantly.* AwesomeButImpractical: ** If you're concerned with your rating for the mission, any gun other than a suppressed pistol or sniper rifle is this (except in two levels of ''Blood Money'', where you can use unsuppressed firearms without penalty in certain areas).** The dual-wielding upgrade in ''Blood Money'' looks awesome and still counts as a concealed weapon, but it doubles your already lengthy reload time, and also throws your aim off when quick-drawing, which means you'll probably never use it if you're at all concerned about stealth.** [[GatlingGood The minigun]]. [[{{BFG}} So large it slows 47 down to a crawl]].* AxCrazy:** One of the assassins towards the end of ''Blood Money'', should you wind up alone with her, will trigger a cutscene in which she leaps on top of you and stabs you to death while shrieking insanely. Instant Game Over. As there's no way to stop this once the scene triggers, it also manages to turn into ParanoiaFuel, as you try to deal with her WITHOUT the scene going off...** Malcolm Sturrock, brother of the Meat King from ''Contracts'' is also revealed to be an AxCrazy SerialKiller during the Meat King's Party. When you find him, he is dancing around in his underwear in front of photos of his freshly mutilated and murdered victim.** There are a number of characters in ''Absolution'' who fit the bill. Blake Dexter, Wade, The Saints. To these psychotics, the words "collateral damage" may as well be in Aramaic. * {{Badass}}: 47.** Victoria, she spends most of the game being a helpless fourteen year old girl who gets incredibly ill if her necklace is taken off. But [[spoiler: when Blake Dexter is trying to take her into the helicopter she kills multiple mooks in a whirlwind of violence.]]** BadassInANiceSuit: 47, whenever he's not wearing a disguise. Parodied with the incompetent Agent Smith, doubling as a shoutout to his namesake in Film/TheMatrix.*** {{Justified|Trope}}. The first TieInNovel explicitly points out that expensive clothes is one of the few luxuries that a ProfessionalKiller like 47 can enjoy.** BadassBoast: "I can do ''whatever I'm paid to.''"** BaldOfAwesome or alternatively BaldOfEvil: Again, 47.** RetiredBadass: At the beginning of ''Silent Assassin''.* BadassBystander: In ''Blood Money'', on rare occasions random civilians will pick up dropped weapons and join in on the firefight.* BadHabits:** In the ''Till Death Do Us Part'' mission of ''Blood Money'', 47 can get his hands on a priest's uniform, and carry out the eponymous marriage ceremony. Given that the real priest was drunk, he does it better.** ''Absolution'' features an all-female hitsquad known as the Saints dressed as nuns. [[LampshadeHanging Not even The Agency knows why they choose to do so]].* BarBrawl: 47 can start one upon arriving in Hope.* BattleInTheRain: 47's final shootout with Parchezzi on the White House roof.* BagOfSpilling: The Absolution levels ''Dexter Industries'', ''Death Factory'' and ''Fight Night'' take place in the same facility, but 47 starts each level with his suit, Silverballers and fiber wire regardless of the equipment you ended the previous level with.* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: In the gun store mission of Absolution, the most straightforward way to complete the mission is to beat a sharpshooter at the range.* BedlamHouse The Asylum from ''Codename 47'' is even more nightmarish in flashbacks. The so-called Operating Theatre has a corpse lying on a gurney in full view. The patients are being exploited for Ortmeyer's clone research; the actual asylum is in extreme disrepair and exists mainly as a front.* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: In ''Absolution'', 47's stance on eliminating [[spoiler:Diana]]; he states in the mission description that he takes no pride in killing her, and he must not get personally involved.* {{BFG}}: The [[GatlingGood minigun]] from ''Codename 47'' and ''Contracts'' and the M60 and M195 from ''Silent Assassin''.* BilingualBonus:** Multiple references to Danish soccer team FC Copenhagen, which is the developers' favorite team, and phrases written in Danish such as "Ægte pizza med lort på" (Real pizza with crap on top).** In ''Blood Money'', some of the newspapers that report on your hits at the end of a stage are foreign. Though all the articles will be in English so you can read them, look around and you'll see bylines for stories like "Eiffel Tower built by aliens from Jupiter" in French (for instance)* BigBad: Dr Ort-Meyer in ''Codename 47'', Sergei Zavorotko in ''Silent Assassin'', Alexander Leland Cayne in ''Blood Money'', and [[BigBadEnsemble Benjamin Travis and Blake Dexter]] in ''Absolution''.* BlingBlingBang: 47's stainless steel AMT Hardballers are engraved with stylized fleurs-de-lis on the slides, and has Pachmayr American Legend grips.** In ''Absolution'', the leader of the Saints, Lassandra Dixon uses a [[RevolversAreJustBetter Taurus Raging Bull]], painted black with white ivory grips bearing the Agency logo and a white thorn vine pattern along the barrel. Layla Stockton meanwhile has a golden SIG Sauer P226 with etched wooden grips.** The gold Desert Eagle from ''Contracts''.* BloodierAndGorier: ''Contracts'', full-stop. Though to be honest, the gore is concentrated in the first two levels only -- but it's plenty enough.* BloodyHilarious: Some of the "accidental" deaths are pretty much straight out of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' or are deliberately silly cliches. Among the objects you can drop on targets are an opera chandelier and a ''piano.''** In several of the games, the right combination of weapons and disguises is pretty hysterical. Busboy armed with a [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]]? Pizza delivery man with an [[MoreDakka M60]]? [[MonsterClown An all-too-serious clown]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter with an automatic shotgun]]? Why the hell not? Or, going in the reverse, you can be an FBI Agent armed with his trusty [[JokeWeapon Red Ryder BB gun]][[note]] [[AChristmasStory You can't shoot your eye out if you are wearing]] CoolShades! Everyone else is fair game, though.[[/note]].* BlownAcrossTheRoom:** In ''Blood Money'', the magnum rounds for the Silverballer can do this if fired at close range.** The shotguns in all four of the ''Hitman'' games will do this.** In the ''Absolution'' mission "Attack of the Saints", 47 gets blown across the room in mid-run when the rocket fired by the Saints hits his hotel room.* BodyguardBabes: Some targets have them, notably Charlie Sidjan in ''Silent Assassin''.* BondOneLiner: 47 states "Mission Failed" to Travis after he eliminates The Saints.* BookEnds:** The bad ending's NonstandardGameOver (sort of) in ''Codename 47''.** ''Silent Assassin'' opens in the Gontranno Sanctuary, with 47 EasingIntoTheAdventure, shooting some melons, and visiting confession. The final hit of the game takes place inside the very same sanctuary.** Also, the end of ''Blood Money'' shows [[spoiler:47 about to carry out an assassination in a Chinese brothel, recalling the Hong Kong setting of the first missions in ''Codename 47''.]]** In ''Absolution'', both the tutorial and the achievement for completing the final mission are called "A Personal Contract".--->''"From here on out, I shall only refer to her as 'my target'. I must not get [[ConsummateProfessional personally involved.]]"''--->''"I shall not refer to him as 'my target'. Nothing so clinical will do. This is [[RevengeBeforeReason personal.]]"''* BoringButPractical: You could just simply shoot your targets or even massacre everyone in the level instead of resorting to some sort of dastardly plot to [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident make it look like an accident]]. The latter route is subverted in that your rating falls apart if you take out people other than the target(s).** In all the games, one of the most useful bits of equipment is the simple fiber wire garrote. Its silent, can't be detected in metal detectors and is always sure to kill a target. ''Absolution'' adds in the feature that using the fiber wire lets you automatically drag away bodies to hide.** In the gun store mission of Absolution where 47 must recover his Silverballers, he can sneak through the store and firing range for the key to the cases...or he can simply beat the local sharpshooter in a shooting competition, after which the store owner will let him buy the guns...** The ability to pick up random items in Absolution, which can give you either a handy improvised weapon or a quick and convenient way to distract guards.** Perhaps the one of the most useful weapons across the entire series is the humble silenced pistol.** In ''Blood Money'' pushing anyone on stairs or over the railing is a handy instant kill with the added bonus of looking like an accident, which means someone finding the body will not raise an alarm or impact your score.* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: In ''Absolution'', the ICA delivers a suitcase with $10 million dollars to Blake Dexter in exchange for Victoria. At the end of "Countdown", [[spoiler:Victoria dumps the money over Blake's dead body before she and 47 leave]].** In the ''Blood Money'' levels "A Murder of Crows" and "A House of Cards", 47 can use cases full of money to hide his equipment past a frisking. Or, deliver them with a bomb inside.* ButtMonkey: Agent Smith. Shot, stabbed, drugged up and tortured, having his head smashed into a steering wheel, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking yelled at.]]* BulletTime: A ''MaxPayne'' ability is present in the original ''Codename 47'' as an easter egg [[spoiler: press the scroll lock button to activate bullet time during gameplay]]. In ''Blood Money'', the game will go into bullet time mode when 47 runs out of health; if you can achieve 3 headshots during this short period, you're given a second chance (but taking 1 more hit will result in instant death).* CallBack:** At the beginning of the ''Absolution'' mission "Countdown", 47 is standing behind a pillar in his signature "crossed arms with dual Silverballers" pose, as seen in the page image.** Also in ''Absolution'', as 47 walks out of the church at the end of the "Operation Sledgehammer" mission, "Ave Maria" plays in the background.* TheChessmaster:** 47 is one of these if you play as the ideal, stealthy "Silent Assassin".** Also [[spoiler: Diana Burnwood (or her principals)]] in ''Blood Money''.* CallToAgriculture: Agent 47 became a gardener at a church following the events of the first game. Too bad the mafia had to kidnap the local priest...* CameraPerspectiveSwitch: From the second game onwards the player can switch from third- to first-person at any time. Certain actions force one perspective or the other.* CelibateHero: in one mission, a prostitute kisses 47 - and he reacts with utter revulsion (in a remake of the mission from 47's POV, he merely reacts with bemusement).* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The death serum in ''Blood Money''.]]* ChekhovsGunman[=/=]CallBack: Sergei's mysterious advisor from ''Silent Assassin'' appears in the ''Hitman: Sniper Challenge'' game released as build-up to ''Absolution''. In the achievements he's named as "Mr. X". * CIAEvilFBIGood: Inverted. Smith is an upstanding (if incompetent) CIA agent who has the best interests of his country at heart. The BigBad of ''Blood Money'' on the other hand, is a former Director of the FBI. * CloningBlues: Averted. 47 never angsts over being the clone of some of the worst criminals on the planet and its not until ''Blood Money'' that his being a clone becomes really relevant to the plot.** ''Blood Money'', in turn, reveals that Dr. Ordmeier's cloning techniques have passed into the hands of various organizations... but because 47 stole his documents to prevent further Agents from being made, all of the clones are flawed. Specifically, they're all albino.* CombatPragmatist* ConspicuouslySelectivePerception: 47 reaps both the rewards and the pitfalls of this. On the one hand, guards and witnesses take no note of the six-foot-tall bald guy with a bar code tattoo on his head hanging around the scene (as long as he doesn't do anything criminal directly in their line of sight) and are always taken in by his PaperThinDisguise, no matter how little he resembles the person he's posing as. On the other hand, security and police pay attention to him and ''only'' to him. [=NPC=]s can traipse through restricted areas, pass through security checkpoints without being scanned for weapons, and run around openly carrying firearms without upsetting anyone. If 47 does any of these things in front of a guard, the penalty is death. This is {{justified|Trope}} in one level of ''Contracts'': The targets have only done business anonymously, and the target you can disguise yourself as ''is'' a tall, bald guy.** Averted somewhat in ''Absolution'', where disguises aren't foolproof and there will be people that will at least get suspicious towards your disguises (usually the people 47 is disguising himself as).** In the Hong Kong missions in ''Contracts'', disguising yourself as a member of either Triad fools precisely nobody.** Partially averted in the [[spoiler: White House]] level of ''Blood Money'' - all of the tourist [=NPCs=] have to pass through metal detectors at the entrance, and if you hide a weapon in one of their bags, that person will be detained and their bag confiscated.* ConsummateProfessional: This is 47's defining character trait.* ContinuityNod: In ''Absolution'', a radio broadcast that can be heard during "A Personal Contract" mentions the death of Richard Strong, the target of the PreOrderBonus "Sniper Challenge" mission.** The opera mission in ''Blood Money'' is the same mission that went wrong for 47 in ''Contracts'', acting as the impetus for that game's story.* ContractOnTheHitman: Has happened to 47 a number of times, and becomes a problem for the Agency in ''Blood Money''.* CoolCar: 47's black Mercury in ''Absolution''.* CoolShades: 47's targets often sport these. Most notably invoked by Mr. 17.* CoolGuns:** By the end of ''Blood Money'', you can carry around [[GunsAkimbo dual]] silenced scoped [[MoreDakka automatic]] Silverballers with extended magazines, very heavy magnum ammo, and laser sights.** The .22 Suppressed in ''Silent Assassin''. To highlight its simplistic beauty, Hayamoto has one in his highly secure basement museum.* CorruptHick: Sheriff Skurky in ''Absolution''* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Many targets throughout the series are these. * CoverIdentityAnomaly: In ''Silent Assassin'', 47 can adopt a disguise of a "Lord Sinclair" to get close to his target (a female doctor). If she asks 47 for the name of "his" wife, though, he won't know what to say before eventually randomly coming up with "Elsie" (which is way off the mark), blowing his cover.* CradlingYourKill - If you've poisoned or tranquilized someone.* CrapsackWorld* TheCrimeJob: ''Silent Assassin'' has a level called "The Jacuzzi Job".* CrossOver: The protagonists of IO's other IP ''KaneAndLynch'' make multiple appearances in ''Absolution''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEr0eCRosgQ As you can see here,]] you can find Kane starting a barfight when 47 turns off the bar's generator, while Lynch can be seen taking out gnomes with his shotgun in the shooting range. [[spoiler: Lynch can also be seen next to two women [[NonStandardGameOver if you trigger the atom bomb]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OsALidZeYU in the Factory Compound level.]]]]* CruelMercy: In ''Absolution'', after 47 is done interrogating [[spoiler:Lenny Dexter]], he orders him to start walking. 47 then has three options: he can kill him, or simply drive away and leave him in the middle of the desert, or [[spoiler:trigger an easter egg that ends up with Lenny being run over by a speeding Ice Cream truck that comes out of nowhere]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AC8M7RoU9-M (shown here)]]. If you leave him out in the desert unharmed, the mission ranking screen will have a voice over of Lenny panicking over what to do now that he is stuck out there.* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Most "accidental" deaths are especially gruesome and [[IronicDeath ironic]] compared to the alternative of being garroted or shot, such as killing Dr. Green by [[spoiler:dropping him into a pit of pigs]] in ''Absolution''.* CutsceneIncompetence: Twice in ''Absolution''. First attempting to garrote Sanchez, then sneaking up on Skurky while [[HarmlessElectrocution standing on a puddle of water]].* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Anyone who switched from the later games to ''Codename 47'' will be surprised with how different the controls and interfaces are. * DeadMansChest: A common method of disposing of bodies in ''Blood Money''* DeadlyBath:** In the "Shockingly Executed" ad for ''Blood Money'', 47 kills a woman by throwing a [[ElectrifiedBathtub toaster into her candlelit bath]]. This was a controversial ad campaign.** The Meat King's Party has a bath. Replace "bath" with "gore-streaked meathouse bloodbath with sweaty fat guy dancing like an idiot", actually.* DeathByFallingOver: The "Accident" gameplay mechanic in ''Blood Money'' leads to some quite ludicrous results at times. Shoving someone off a high balcony which overlooks a frozen lake? Fine. Shoving them down a ten-foot flight of stairs? Not quite so believable, but plausible. Shoving someone into a three-foot deep pool of water? Oh come ''on...''* DeathGlare: In ''Absolution'', Birdie asks 47 if he's crazy. 47 responds with a glare that says, "I know where you park your car (and I own C4)."* DeepSouth: ''Death On The Mississippi'' and ''Till Death Do Us Part'' in ''Blood Money''.** You would think South Dakota was also part of the South, based on the stereotypes it plays up.* DepravedBisexual: Skip Muldoon, a redneck drug smuggler who is sleeping with several male pursers aboard his riverboat, while also having an incestuous affair with his niece. He'll chase you around if you're dressed as a purser.* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything:** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwzWZTuTzdo It's]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X45Ob320Lu0 possible]] to get a Silent Assassin rating in ''Blood Money's'' training level.** Many levels offer a broad spectrum of options - the Opera, for example, allows you to, among other things, [[spoiler:replace the prop gun for the execution in the play with a real one for the actor to do your job for you, you can do it yourself by taking the actor's place, you can shoot the target with a gun from a hidden vantage point at the appropriate moment in the execution scene of the play, you can drop the stage lights on him]]... Though you can always try to do it with MoreDakka or StuffBlowingUp, being inventive is quite possible.** In ''Absolution'' mission "End of the Road", [[spoiler:Lenny]] has several responses to various weapons you brandish at him, including a silenced pistol.** Still in ''Absolution'', one mission has 47 in a courtroom. It is possible to subdue or kill the judge, disguise as him, and ''dismiss a case then order a recess'' in order to proceed and access to the next section. This is one of the rare moments (if not the only one) where 47 not only dresses but also acts as the person he impersonates.** Since it's possible to dress as a priest in ''Blood Money'' and as a judge in ''Absolution'', the player is allowed to perform a wedding ceremony and dismiss a court case in the respective roles.* DistractedByTheSexy: 47 can hire a prostitute to distract some gang members while he places a tracking device on their car.* DonutMessWithACop: In one level of ''Blood Money'', the least risky way to bypass the security checkpoint barring entry to the target's house is to inject a box of donuts with sedatives and give it to the FBI agents in the surveillance van across the street.** In ''Absolution'', certain items can allow 47 to hide in plain sight if he has the right disguise; while an electrician outfit lets you pretend to fix a cable, the cop outfit naturally allows you to hang around the donut box. * DressingAsTheEnemy: A simple method of infiltration, and the game's main feature.* DropTheHammer: An ordinary household hammer is one of the many weapons that 47 can use to execute his targets (or anyone else for that matter). Made all the more gruesome by a special head-crunching animation when 47 successfully pulls off a sneak attack on his victim.* DuelBoss: In ''Blood Money'', during the "Dance with the Devil" mission, one of the rival assassins will challenge 47 to a one-on-one duel to prove the superiority of good old fashioned BadassNormal against cloned super soldiers. If you accept his challenge, the two of you go to an empty storage room and duel it out. This lets you kill the guy without risking the involvement of guards or civilians. The room is set up to give him lots of cover and prevent you from just running up to him and shooting him point blank, but he doesn't really have that much health (he takes about 9 to 10 pistol shots to kill, compared to just 1 or 2 for standard Mooks). It's also noticeable as challenging him to a duel is also the only way to assassinate him "silently", since he normally never leaves the public area.* DummiedOut:** The playable demo for ''Silent Assassin'' included the ability to attack enemies by simply punching. This was not directly available in the finished game, but it has a cheat code which turns it back on along with ridiculously increased punching power which sends enemies flying.** The final mission of ''Blood Money'' has a fairly large unused section of the map beneath the cathedral, suggesting that at one point the level was intended to have 47 wake up after he is lowered towards the crematorium and then sneak his way back up.* EarlyGameHell: For a game which promotes stealth, ''Hitman 2'' is hilariously difficult unless you resort to indiscriminate shooting, even in the opening level. The series gradually softens up after this.** Though it is a positive walk in the park compared to trying to complete the levels of ''Codename 47'' stealthily.* EasterEgg: Dolph the Fascist Hippo, [=FCK=] , [[VideoGame/CommanderKeen Dopefish]], PokeyThePenguin, [[VideoGame/MiniNinjas Hiro]] and others.** The rubber ducky that appears in every installment is notable because it even made it into the film adaption and [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 was referenced in a cross-promotion crossover]].** A very subtle one in Blood Money is on A New Life. It's a ranking called The Russian Hare, based on the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuFNjXlNiXk real life exploits of a WWII sniper]] for those who one-shot kill combatants with the sniper rifle.** During the ''Skurky's Law'' mission in ''Absolution'' as you reach the holding cells and crawl through the vent. You can oversee one of the prisoners named [[VideoGame/KaneAndLynch Kane waiting to his daughter, Jenny]]. Huh [[spoiler: guess he did get caught after that craziness in China.]]* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:** The first game, for starters, didn't have the iconic Silverballers (technically you could have a Hardballer, but you couldn't go GunsAkimbo with two of them and they couldn't be silenced) and there were much more sequences that wouldn't feel out of place in a third person shooter. Codename 47 was much more akin to a game that was throwing darts at a wall to see what stuck, and it was when ''Silent Assassin'' rolled around that the trademark style of the Hitman games was being truly developed and polished.** Actually, you can go GunsAkimbo with two Hardballers, it's just you need to have one from the start and find another on the level itself: if you pick up second Hardballer, while wielding first, you will dual wield. Still, chances to find a second Hardballer outside of training level are really slim.** The first game's map function is almost useless regardless of difficulty, no landmarks, no icons...** ''Codename 47'' also didn't have an in-game save feature. Instead, it had an odd life system where each mission would let you die and respawn a set number of times. Respawning wouldn't reset the guards' alert status though, so if you died you'd either have to gun your way through the rest of the level or restart from the beginning. * EliteMooks: [=SWAT=] officers are equipped with body armor, assault rifles, and have a unique A.I. that actually sweeps through the level in squads searching for you, instead of simply guarding one location and reacting to your actions like every other enemy type in the game. They also attack much faster than regular enemies. ''Absolution'' has commandoes in full body armor and wielding assault rifles, and the final confrontation is [[spoiler: against a 3-man team of the Agency's best commandoes, codenamed the Praetorians.]]** There are Elite Mooks up the wazoo in Absolution. Chicago SWAT officers wield sub-machine guns and wear body armor, Blackwater Tactical Team members come equipped with body armor and silenced weapons, and the mother of all Elite Mooks, the Agency Heavy Troopers, who are covered head to toe in armor and use the most powerful assault rifles in the game.** The Saints are played up in the promos to be a BadAss group of assassins dressed as nuns, and 47 just barely survives the encounter. In-game, however, they are as susceptible to all the [[OneHitKill One Hit Kills]] the normal mooks are, from headshots to garroting.* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Seeing what Blake Dexter does when he first runs into 47 in ''Absolution'' is all it takes to know how revoltingly evil he is. * [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Everyone calls him Agent 47]]:--> '''47''': Names are for friends... so I don't need one.* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Some of the guard conversations you overhear involve them talking about their families or girlfriends. Dexter himself loves his son Lenny very much too, which is evident when [[spoiler:you kill Lenny. Dexter takes it ''very'' hard. He's also willing to risk his life by staying behind to wait for Layla when evacuating Blackwater]].* EvenEvilHasStandards: Many of Wade's henchmen are very uncomfortable with shooting up an orphanage full of nuns.* EvilAlbino:** The various Mark clones in ''Blood Money'', most prominently Mark Parchezzi III. Amusingly, radios throughout the game will report on an "Albino-American Anti-Defamation League" protesting the government's insensitive response to a string of assassinations by albino assassins.** Upon close examination, the Praetorian EliteMooks from the final battle of ''Absolution'' are albino, and appear to be remarkably identical in appearance. This, combined with their unique MadeOfIron durability (it take about 20 assault rifle rounds to kill one of them), may be a hint that they're Class II clones, like the Franchise's Mark series were.* EvilCounterpart: Mark Parchezzi III, the EvilAlbino Hitman from ''Blood Money''. He even points out the similarities between 47 and himself when the two finally confront each other. 47 is [[TheStoic characteristically unimpressed.]]** There's also Mark Purrayah II, one of the assassins you kill in the Mardi Gras mission, although he's not particularly remarkable. He supposedly was a partial clone, but it's rather vague.* EvilCripple: All over the place in ''Absolution''. The prosthetic voice box-equipped owner of the gun shop who [[spoiler:keeps 47's Silverballers locked up]], the prosthetic-handed Benjamin Travis, the prosthetic-legged Dr. Green...** Jack Alexander from ''Blood Money'', who is confined to a wheelchair and has horrible scarring [[spoiler: and is the game's BigBad]].* EvilDetectingDog: Dobermans in the Rotterdam levels from ''Codename 47'' and hunting dogs in Beldingford Manor from ''Contracts'' will attack 47 on sight and alert nearby guards. Pets dogs in ''Blood Money'' are inoffensive yet still detect 47. It's possible to shut them up with drugged sausages.* EvilTwin: The various other Hitman clones, namely the ten Mr. 48s in the final shootout of ''Hitman: Codename 47'', and Mr. 17 towards the end of ''Hitman 2: Silent Assassin''.* {{Expy}}:** A (probably) unintentional example, but the reporter in the cutscenes from ''Blood Money'' acts a lot like [[Franchise/GhostInTheShell Togusa]], save for appearing older and having a career change away from detective work to journalism. It helps that they have [[Creator/CrispinFreeman the exact same voice]].** Vinnie Sinistra is probably one of [[Film/{{Scarface 1983}} Tony Montana]]. He doesn't look anything like AlPacino, but his backstory is practically identical.** Pablo Ochoa is also one of Tony. Guess ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}'' is quite popular in the IO Interactive office.* TheFaceless: Diana, 47's handler at The Agency. In the first three games, she's just a voice on the phone. In ''Blood Money'', she's mostly seen at a distance and from behind (though you ''do'' see her face reflected in the window in the game's final cutscene). [[spoiler:She's also seen in the tutorial mission of ''Absolution'', where she's the target]].* FacelessGoons: You come across some sent from ICA in ''Absolution''. Most frustratingly and bizarrely illogically, when you disguise yourself as them, you take everything '''but''' their masks. ** The SWAT Teams from ''Contracts'' and the ninjas from ''Silent Assassin''.* FakingTheDead: Discussed in ''Absolution'''s final mission (of the same name). Benjamin and the ICA decide to exhume [[spoiler:Diana's coffin]] because they aren't sure if [[spoiler:47 killed her or not]]. In the final cutscene, [[spoiler:it's revealed that Diana faked her death, and she thanks 47 in the post-mission result screen]].* FalseFlagOperation: During a PeaceConference between two [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triads]] in the mission ''The Seafood Massacre'' in ''Contracts'', 47 must kill both delegates and the mediator while making sure one of the groups takes the blame for the hit.* FanDisservice: The shower assassination at the beginning of ''Absolution'', considering who 47 is killing.** Assassinating Franz Fuchs in the shower in both the original game and ''Contracts''.* FatBastard:** The Meat King. Most of the stealthy ways of killing him involve serving him a ''whole roast chicken''.** Ditto Skip Muldoon from ''Blood Money'', considering the stealthy ways to kill him involve tampering with a cake.* FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit: Skip Muldoon in Blood Money. Blake Dexter in Absolution.* FedToPigs: One of the targets in ''Absolution'' subverts this - According to some factory workers, when he was just a kid [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Marcus Green]] and his little sister got [[StartOfDarkness dumped in a pig sty by a burglar, left alone and defenseless against the ravenous hogs.]] One of them charged his sister and Green got in the way to protect her, somehow managing to kill the pig. Unfortunately for Green, the pig collapsed on top of his leg, trapping him. It wasn't until a couple of days later that the police found them and by then Green's leg had to be amputated. This created both a phobia and hatred of pigs which persists into his adult life... [[spoiler: making his [[DeathByIrony ironic kill]] all the more horrifying - you can shoot out a glass floor where he stands to send him falling into a pit filled with swine. [[CruelMercy Luckily for him,]] the fall may have killed him.]]* FlowerMotifs: The lily symbol of the series.* FilmNoir: The later games started to veer into this territory by virtue of aiming for a more DarkerAndEdgier feel. Several missions in ''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money'' are genuinely noir in tone, as well as the two missions in Rotterdam from Codename 47. ''Absolution'', instead, goes for something of an ExploitationFilm [[GenreThrowback throwback]] feel. * FirstPersonSnapshooter: In one level of ''Hitman 2: Silent Assassin'', you are given a camera and instructed to photograph two thugs after killing them.* FiveBadBand: Dexter Industries in ''Absolution''** BigBad: Blake Dexter** CoDragons: Sanchez and Layla Stockton** EvilGenius: Warren Ashford and Clive Skurky** TheBrute: Edward Wade** TheDarkChick: Lenny Dexter* FiveFiveFive: The barcode 47 is tattooed with is a... wacky intentional example. It's a fully legal bar-code in a day where bar-code scanning apps for smart phones are common, making the fact that it belongs to a dildo holder all the more noticeable.* {{Foreshadowing}}: The main menu of ''Blood Money'' shows a group of people attending 47's funeral. As one plays through the game, it quickly becomes apparent that each "mourner" is actually a target from one of the game's missions. As each level is completed, the corresponding "mourner" disappears, until, in the end, only [[spoiler:Alexander Cayne]] is left...just in time for the final mission.* GambitRoulette: Most of Agent 47's methods of causing "accidental" deaths, especially in ''Blood Money'', might seem this way to the characters, but that's because they don't know that he's [[SaveScumming done this a couple of dozen times before getting it right]].* GameplayAndStorySegregation:** In-story, a single bullet to the gut disables 47 and necessitates an emergency operation. In gameplay, he can be shot through the leg, the heart and the skull and be fine as long as his health bar isn't empty.** 47's signature weapons in the story and in all the promotional artwork are his twin .45ACP Silverballers, but in gameplay you'll probably never use them if you want the highest rating.* GatlingGood: [[spoiler:The InfinityPlusOneSword of ''Contracts''. AwesomeButImpractical - 47's damn slow. One of the Mr. 48s comes after 47 with one.]]* GeneralFailure: Benjamin Travis is shockingly incompetent for a leader of an organization which seems to consist entirely of {{Consummate Professional}}s. [[spoiler: He is unable to keep calm under pressure, makes hasty decisions that end up costing his subordinates their lives, bungles a ransom handoff losing $10 million of the Agency's money in the process and allows himself to be outsmarted by both 47 and Diana Burnwood.]] He also looks disheveled and out of shape, all of which begs the question: how could someone like that rise to the upper echelons of the Agency? * GenreSavvy: At least one soldier in ''Absolution'' has seen what 47 is capable of, so when he hears that [[spoiler: the Saints' attack on him at the Waikiki motel fails to produce a body]] he suggests just leveling the building 47's in and letting him die in the rubble.* GenreShift: The gameplay is fairly consistent, but in terms of story and tone, ''Codename 47'', ''Silent Assassin'' and ''Blood Money'' are rather akin to conspiracy/political thrillers, while ''Contracts'' is very much in the vein of a PsychologicalThriller. ''Absolution'' evokes a style akin to Grindhouse cinema, as noted in {{Pastiche}}/{{Homage}}. * GoingByTheMatchbook: In ''Absolution'', this is how 47 retraces [[spoiler:Wade's]] steps back to [[spoiler:the town of Hope, South Dakota]]. Better played [[DiscreditedTrope than the usual]] as the only reason why [[spoiler:Wade]] had a matchbox on him in the first place was because [[spoiler:Blake asked Lenny to give Wade a light in a previous {{cutscene}} and he just grabbed a nearby matchbook and gives it to Wade.]]* GovernmentConspiracy: In ''Blood Money'', the plot revolves around [[spoiler:the Franchise, which is basically the ICA's dark twin. A secretive agency with government backing, the game's conspiracy revolves around them getting one of their puppets to become Vice President so they can assassinate the actual President, who supports cloning, to get cloning banned so that they can keep and profit off of the technology for themselves]].* The ICA is a semi-BenevolentConspiracy version of this trope, more so as a NecessaryEvil. They go around killing people too powerful to face normal justice and operate in the shadows. By ''Absolution'', Agent 47 himself has become an urban legend conspiracy theory called "the Hitman".* GrayAndGreyMorality: Depending on your outlook, the games fall into either this or BlackAndGrayMorality. 47 is a violent, unrepentant killer who has no qualms about killing for money and is not above killing innocent people in order to get his man (although he does feel ''some'' guilt about his actions, as ''Contracts'' makes apparent). However, his targets are ''almost'' exclusively people even nastier and more vicious than him. ** GrayingMorality: ''Contracts'' has the first time 47's primary target is an innocent man. In ''Blood Money'', he kills more other innocent men, signaling a shift from the earlier games' morality - and what's more, ''Blood Money'' is the first game since ''Silent Assassin'' in which the player is not penalized for killing innocent people who are not targets (47 can kill as many people as he likes as long as they are unseen "accidents").* GrayRainOfDepression: Every mission in ''Contracts'', save the last one (which takes place when 47 awakens). Since the majority of the world exists in 47's drug-addled skull, and it never rained in ''Codename 47'', we can surmise the rain signifies 47's current mood. * TheGuardsMustBeCrazy:** Apparently the penalty for running in public, using the wrong bathroom, walking into the EMPLOYEES ONLY lounge, or setting off a metal detector is always a bullet to the head.** In the Mardi Gras level of ''Blood Money'' - if you enter a (perfectly normal, ordinary-bar, not-very-fancy) party without a costume? The bouncer at the door will open fire (By the way, nobody else is wearing a costume). Instantly. In the middle of a huge crowd. On the same level, turning the lights in the hotel foyer on and off repeatedly sends a woman running to the nearest policeman, who decides that the best way to deal with a man [[DisproportionateRetribution harmlessly playing with a light-switch is to open fire.]]** Starting with ''Contracts'', it's possible to kill some people "by accident". When civilians see the target go down, they will run in panic and 47 can watch them try to alert the guards who stand with a FlatWhat. Eventually, one will approach 47, try a search for weapons, and upon finding nothing of interest, returns to his guard post.*** The whole idea of accidents is lack of any connection with the hitman, so there is no reason why the guards should harass a bald guy in a suit only because someone got nailed by a falling piano.* GuideDangIt: Getting Silent Assassin on some missions.** Unlocking some of the weapons in some games, most notably the minigun and [[GunsAkimbo dual Desert Eagles]] in ''Contracts''.* GunAccessories: In ''Blood Money'', 47 has access to "Custom Weapons" in addition to weapons he [[GottaCatchEmAll can collect off mooks and targets]]. There is one custom weapon in each category (Pistol, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Sub Machine Gun, Shotgun) that can be loaded up with suppressors, sights, extended magazines and ammo types. * GunsAkimbo: His weapon of choice... two "Silverballers."** Dual-wielding the Silverballers is inaccurate and often a waste of bullets. If you put {{Laser Sight}}s on them, you can see that they shoot off-center.** In ''Silent Assassin'', they also count as two separate gunshots, so you'd never actually use them for a perfect run!** Every pistol and some submachine guns are unlockable this way in ''Contracts'', ranging from the [[LittleUselessGun Silenced SG220]] all the way up to the [[RevolversAreJustBetter Magnum]] [[HandCannon .500]].* GunsInChurch:** In the DeepSouth mission "'Til Death Do Us Part" 47 can actually openly carry guns without provoking return fire. Justified by it being a really, ''really'' redneck wedding; out in front, a bunch of guys are going shooting, presumably at frogs or something, and several other guests openly carry as well.*** When 47 starts the level (the boat dock), those particular rednecks are shooting at alligators. (Shoot the alligators to get them to stop to watch you in awe. Or jealously.) The rest of the wedding participants will just shoot up into the air whenever they're collectively happy.** In the "Operation Sledgehammer" mission in ''Absolution'', 47 and [[spoiler:Sheriff Skurky]] have a showdown in the Hope Springs Church. Notably, a woman sitting in the pews immediately yells out that [[spoiler:Skurky]] is brandishing a gun in the church.* GunPorn: The whole series. You can slap a ton of mods to your five custom weapons in ''Blood Money''.* HandCannon:** Smith & Wesson Model .500 in ''Contracts'' and Bull .480 in ''Blood Money''.** Plus, the Desert Eagle in every game.** There are also Agent 47's Silverballers. While they fire "only" a .45 ACP round, they are still amongst the most powerful handguns in the game, and often [[BlownAcrossTheRoom send people flying]]. It's at least justified in ''Blood Money'', where you get customized magnum ammo for double the damage.* HaveANiceDeath: Perhaps taking a page from ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', the last third of the levels in ''Absolution'' will play special Game Over sequences. Skurky gloating over you taking too long? Blake Dexter blowing up the roof? [[spoiler:Travis]] mocking 47's decision to defect from the corrupted Agency? Talk about a good reason not to die or be detected.** [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything Lenny also has one]]. You can only see it by [[spoiler: blowing yourself up with the dynamite in the old wagon]], which really rubs in WhatAnIdiot you are for doing that.* HellHotel: Hotel Galar's east wing, where there's been a brutal murder; it's also the only place in the series where you will find [[spoiler:a ghost]].** With a little practice and luck you can [[spoiler:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_z7AZR2euo kill the ghost in the hotel.]] [[Website/{{Cracked}} Twice.]]]]* HereWeGoAgain: see BookEnds and FridgeHorror above.* HideYourChildren: There are no children in any mission of any game.** [[spoiler:Until Absolution, although Victoria only appears in cutscenes and briefly for one mission where you have to carry her a short distance while avoiding a couple of goons.]]*** {{Justified}} in that all of the children were sent away on a field trip before the attack took place.* HitmanWithAHeart:** Unless it's required (which is extremely rare, as in 2 cases), 47 canonically doesn't kill civilians (or even his target's goons) to minimize collateral damage and the possibility of witnesses.** [[PragmaticVillainy That's not having a heart, that's just being careful]]. The bird he keeps counts, though. On the other hand [[spoiler:he kills it without hesitation, when someone tries to sneak up to him in his hideout, just so it won't give away his position.]]** If the dark, bleak fever-dreams of ''Contracts'' mean anything at all, 47 certainly does feel ''some'' guilt about his crimes. Not that that's stopping him...** Agent 47 has a heart, it's just a subtle one. It's suggested he donates large sums of money to churches, and for all that he gets paid huge sums of cash for his assignments, he lives an incredibly spartan lifestyle (his suits being his one luxury), suggesting what doesn't go into emergency funds, weapons, and explosives is effectively given away. He also is strongly loyal to Diana Burnwood thanks to their long-term working relationship.** ''Absolution'' cements this, with Agent 47 willing to betray the Agency in order to carry out Diana's request to protect Victoria. He is also shown to be visibly bothered when [[spoiler:he performs the contract on Diana, having to convince himself she's just another target.]] It also helps that he and Victoria are NotSoDifferent, and he has no desire to see an innocent girl getting turned into a supersoldier against her will.*** Lampshaded abit: When 47 brings Victoria to the orphanage, he attempts to repay the favor for sheltering Victoria with a envelope full of cash. The Nun respectfully refuses the gesture. * HollywoodSilencer: In ''Blood Money'', if you spring for the premium suppressor for your Silverballer, you can shoot someone in the head and guards standing less than 10 feet away won't hear it.** Averted in ''Silent Assassin'' suppressed weapons can be heard by people nearby, sometimes even through doors/walls.* HoYay: {{Invoked|Trope}} with the occasional {{mook}} in ''Absolution'':-->'''Elite Blackwater Guard''': Cute guy. Too cute... ''almost.''* HumanShield: You can do this in ''Blood Money'', and it's usually a very easy way to manipulate a pesky guard or civilian. Once you have the gun to their back, you can march them to wherever you want, and [[TapOnTheHead buffalo them into unconsciousness]].* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: ''Contracts'' contains a level where the protagonist must rescue the potential victim of a human hunt from an English manor.* HyperspaceArsenal: In ''Blood Money'', 47 can conceal anything up to the size of an MP 5 SMG under his clothing. A nameless female assassin, also in ''Blood Money,'' despite wearing an [[{{Stripperiffic}} extremely skimpy]] outfit turns out be carrying five different stiletto knives if you examine her body.** Special mention goes to the coins which 47 can throw to create a distraction - there is always one available from the inventory, no matter how many have already been thrown. 47 can even walk through metal detectors with them.** In ''Silent Assassin'', 47 can hold all of the pistols in the game (well over a dozen), two knives, a scalpel, chloroform, fiber wire, a sub machine gun and numerous miscellaneous objects all at once. The only thing he can't have more than one of on his person are rifle-sized firearms. ** In ''Absolution'' it's now used entirely, where 47 can now conceal his Silverballers, two identical handguns, a light machine gun, a sniper rifle, a remote explosive and an ''entire gasoline can'' on his person with no change in mobility (For reference, a syringe takes up as much inventory space as an ax).* HowWeGotHere: The main menu of ''Blood Money'' displays scenes from 47's impending cremation. How he has ended up on that cremation table is for you to find out.* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: In the ''Absolution'' mission "Rosewood", Wade goads Lenny Dexter into trying to threaten the head nun at the orphanage. As Lenny is yelling at Wade that he's tough (with his back turned to the nun and his gun pointed at her), he accidentally fires the gun, instantly killing her.* IKEAWeaponry: 47's sniper rifle. He assembles & disassembles it with ease, but even with his speed, there's still a five-second wait.* ImpersonationGambit:** In the mission ''The Bjarkhov Bomb'' in ''Contracts'', 47's two targets are a terrorist and an arms dealer who never did business in person before. One of the simplest ways to clear the mission is to eliminate the former first and take his place during his private meeting with the latter. The impersonation is not much of a PaperThinDisguise in this occasion because the terrorist ''is'' in fact a tall, bald man with European features.** Another example from ''Contracts''. In the mission ''Rendezvous in Rotterdam'', 47 can intercept and supplant a journalist who is supposed to meet one of the targets (a gang leader) in a well-protected hideout.** Semi-subverted in another mission from ''Contracts''. In ''[[FalseFlagOperation The Seafood Massacre]]'', 47 can pretend to be a [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad's]] emissary who is expected to arrive to a restaurant for a PeaceConference. The disguise is enough to pass the guards at the entrance, but it doesn't work that well with the other attendees because they know who is supposed to join them at the meeting.** In ''Blood Money'', you can disguise yourself as a South African white supremacist in order to get close to two other targets in "A House of Cards".* ImplacableMan: 47 can take a bullet ''to the face'' and keep walking (and shooting).* ImprobableAimingSkills: In Absolution, the Instinct mode can be used to kill multiple targets with extreme precision in a short amount of time, similar to the level 3 Dead Eye in VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption. If you're not careful, you can get misses or non-lethal hits.* InkSuitActor:** 47's face and body is modeled after that of his original voice actor, David Bateson. ** Several of the characters in ''Absolution'' are modeled after their respective voice actors (who also performed the motion capture work). Creator/PowersBoothe(Travis), Creator/KeithCarradine (Blake Dexter), Stephen Bauer (Birdie), Isabelle Fuhrman (Victoria), and Vivica Fox (Lasandra Dixon), among others, become this.* InMediasRes:** One of the objectives of the last mission of ''Contracts'' showed Richard Delahunt as a completed objective. He was one of the two targets in "Curtains Down", implying that ''Contracts'' takes place during ''Blood Money'', after which Diana informs 47 of [=ICA=] agents getting picked off. (There is a bit of a continuity gaffe, however, in that the opera singer changed names from Philippe Berceuse to Alvaro D'Alvade between ''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money''.)** This explains the ominous DramaticGunCock in the ending cutscene of the opera mission in ''Blood Money'', and in the next mission Diana asks, "How's that wound healing up?"** It's also implied that Albert Fournier, the Inspector you were to kill in ''Contracts'' was tipped off to 47's location by the Franchise.*** Seeing as how ''Blood Money'' takes place during a very long timeframe, almost two years, with sometimes months between missions, there is plenty of time inbetween the missions for 47 to have been doing other missions.* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja: The guards in the ''Silent Assassin'' levels "Hidden Valley", "At The Gates" and "Shogun Showdown" are called ninjas in-game, complete with black suits and [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]], though more of them seem to prefer [=MP5s=].* InstantDeathBullet:** The plot of ''Contracts'' centers on averting this.** Mostly averted in-gameplay, where killing enemies (or other [=NPCs=]) depends on your weapon, where you hit them (even more so if they're wearing body armor), and random chance. Sometimes, they'll still be able to run, they'll be knocked out, they'll be incapacitated and might bleed to death or just die. Mostly averted because it doesn't apply to you.*** It's also played dead straight with head shots. Head shots are universally fatal, regardless of caliber, distance traveled, or angle of impact. Victims crumple to the ground instantaneously and without a sound.*** In ''Silent Assassin'', head-shots with the suppressed .22 are not ''always'' fatal. Same with the [[AKA47 SG220]] in ''Contracts''.*** However, in ''Silent Assassin'', the M195 anti-materiel rifle can kill the target no matter what part of the body is shot.* InstantSedation:** The chloroform-soaked rags and syringes filled with sedatives. Takes a few seconds of struggling against, so you better do it in an area that's not prone to have people walking in on you.** Chloroform is played ''slightly'' more realistically than the sedative syringes, as the victim will eventually wake up (sometimes without their clothes).* InterchangeableAsianCultures: One of the levels in ''Absolution'' is set at Chinatown during the Chinese New Year, but you can find a [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]], which is Japanese.* IntercontinuityCrossover:** Some of the articles in the post-mission newspapers from ''Blood Money'' reference the exploits of KaneAndLynch. Since ''Blood Money'' was released a year before ''Dead Men'', it also counts as early promotion.** The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGjJhjMsZeA duo]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJv4ke8qGBA&feature=youtu.be themselves]] have a [[TheCameo cameo]] in ''Absolution''.** [[VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution Adam Jensen's]] costume and pistol are available as DLC.* IntimateHealing: [[spoiler: Diana resurrecting 47 with an antidote hidden on her lips.]]* ISurrenderSuckers: In ''Absolution'', if 47 is caught by a guard, he can pretend to surrender. The guard will then approach him, giving him a moment to disarm and hold said guard hostage.** The first time 47 runs into his brother, Mr. 17, he's grazed by a few harmless shots before 17 ducks into a crawlspace. If you follow him, you'll be [[SchmuckBait caught in the blast of a bomb]].* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: The New Orleans level in ''Blood Money'' centers around preventing an assassination during a Mardi Gras parade -- all fine and dandy, except that the mission takes place ''in late October''. (To be fair, Bourbon Street often ''does'' look like that in late October, but for entirely different reasons.)* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: 47 does a non-physical variation of this in ''Absolution'', where he forces [[spoiler:Lenny]] to dig a hole in the middle of the desert while he simply eats an apple and calmly asks where Victoria is, threatening to kill him if he either stops digging or doesn't tell him anything soon. It's effective enough to make the poor guy piss his pants.* {{Joisey}}: The setting of the first mission in ''Blood Money''.* JokeWeapon: The air rifle. Also, some of the sillier melee weapons.** LethalJokeWeapon - For some bizarre reason, some people consider it this, but considering it takes forever to kill someone with it...*** The gun is as silent as the Silverballers with the fully upgraded silencer, and is still a OneHitKill if you aim for the head. *** Any throwable object you care to pick up in ''Absolution'' is potentially a one-hit kill, including Bibles, radios, hula girl bobble-heads, ''plungers''... ** The cardboard tube in ''Contracts.'', which in turn may be a ShoutOut to the [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/3/3/ Cardboard Tube Samurai]] from ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''.* JumpScare: In the '"Absolution'' mission "Terminus", opening a door on the eighth floor reveals a bust of a bear with his front paws up ready to attack, complete with requisite ScareChord.* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: 47 himself. Initially he's sort of like a paid vigilante, going around the world exclusively assassinating vicious, amoral criminals, and suffering significant penalties if he ever kills "innocent" people. Then in ''Contracts'' he's hired to kill an undercover journalist who messed up. And by the time of ''Blood Money'' he's able to kill perfectly innocent people who have nothing to do with his target with no penalties whatsoever, so long as he makes it look like an accident. DarkerAndEdgier is right.** In ''Silent Assassin'', he tracks down a target by ''murdering the man's son'' and planting a tracker on the corpse.* JumpingOutOfACake: It's possible to take out a bunch of guards by doing this at one point in ''Absolution''.* JustifiedTutorial: Four of the five games in the Hitman series (''Codename 47'', ''Silent Assassin'', ''Blood Money'' and ''Absolution'') have this. ''Contracts'' has a dreamscape training ground instead.* KickTheDog: ''Absolution'' has the villains '''''[[spoiler:murder their way through an orphanage run by nuns.]]'''''* KickTheSonOfABitch: More often than not, however, the people 47 is hired to kill do honestly have it coming.* KillItWithFire: Several possible examples in ''Blood Money'' and ''Absolution'':** A gangster in the tutorial level prepares to douse the hapless divorce attorney in gasoline. That's one way of getting out of paying alimony.** In "Flatline," 47 can kill one of the mobsters by messing with the gas stove he has hidden in his room.** In "A New Life," 47 can coat a barbecue in lighter fluid, causing it to set the target's wife on fire when she uses it. (She isn't a target, but it counts as an "accident," so it doesn't affect the rating for the mission.)** In "Dance With the Devil," 47 can tamper with a pyrotechnics display so that the flame jets will fry one of his targets during her stage show. ([[RasputinianDeath She subsequently plunges offstage into a shark tank, where she gets eaten.]])** A reoccurring accidental kill in ''Absolution'' is from the use of a spilling gasoline pump. A flicked cigarette is the usual starting spark, but in one challenge, the player must [[spoiler: spill out three separate gasoline pumps, then set off a remote explosive which blows up the entire gas station and hopefully your two targets with it.]]** Another one from ''Absolution'' is centered on a scientist trying to find a cure for his hair loss. [[spoiler: You can mix in "fire paste" into his glowing beaker full of hair tonic, turning it red. He applies some to his head, which ''catches fire.'' Presumably the radiation from the mysterious hair tonic wouldn't have killed him fast enough.]] ** One of 47's targets in "The Beldingford Manor" has dozed off in a recliner in front of a fireplace. He can be killed by dropping a gas can down the chimney.* KnifeNut: The psychotic female assassin from ''Blood Money''.** The Brutus playstyle in ''Absolution'' encourages the player to invoke this by getting 5 knife kills.* LampshadeHanging: In the E3 version of the ''Absolution'' level "Run For Your Life", there was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_operator lift man]] who [[DramaticIrony complemented 47 (disguised as a cop) on the great job the Chicago police force were doing in pursuing the wanted hitman]]. In the game proper, he was removed, but [[FaceOnAMilkCarton he appears on a missing persons poster inside the elevator]].* LaxativePrank: In one level of ''Contracts'' you can poison some soup with laxative to help lure your target to the toilets.* LeaveNoWitnesses: The final mission of ''Hitman: Blood Money'' starts with a whole lot of people learning something 47 can't afford for them to know (namely, [[spoiler:that he's not actually dead]]). He has a way of fixing that.** Method of the Saints in ''Absolution.'' One wonders how firing off an RPG at a crowded motel is unreported by anyone.* LetsYouAndHimFight: In the sub-mission "Chinese New Year" of ''Absolution'', one of 47's targets is trying to buy info on [[spoiler:Birdie]] from a DirtyCop. If 47 steals the files without them noticing it, they start an argument which quickly descends into a QuickDraw fight[[spoiler:, resulting in the death of the target.]]* LevelMapDisplay: On easier difficulties, it also shows positions of enemies.* LesCopsSportif: The final level of ''Contracts'' has 47 escaping a GIGN assault on his hotel chamber. He must eliminate a French inspector as well.* LetsPlay:** ''Blood Money'' has Tom Bowen's 'HowNotToPlayHitman' series, which combines hilarious amounts of [[NoKillLikeOverkill carnage]] and SoundtrackDissonance.** There's also the more recent LP by [=TheAuZZieGamer=], who goes through every mission with [[ClusterFBomb vulgarity]], [[RunningGag running gags]], [[StuffBlowingUp carnage]] and general surgical precision. There's only one mission he doesn't get Silent Assassin on, and it's the tutorial (which, as mentioned above, isn't very easy to get Silent Assassin on).* LikeRealityUnlessNoted* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: ''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money'' use framing devices reminiscent of this trope. The other games use it in a more subtle manner also.* LittleUselessGun: The .22 in ''Silent Assassin''. It's both inaccurate (due to its integral suppressor) and, in a game where if you're shooting someone you want them to go down fast, pitifully weak.** Despite this, metal detectors won't register it, which is likely a GoodBadBug.** The Makarov from the same game and the [[AKA47 SG220]] from ''Contracts'' also fit this trope to a lesser extent. * MadeOfIron: On the default difficulty, 47 can withstand noticeably more damage than other stealth game protagonists such as [[SplinterCell Sam Fisher]], [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]], or [[VideoGame/{{Thief}} Garrett]]. Likewise, each game usually has a handful of unique enemies who are part of the main plot and can survive significantly more damage than the regular Mooks.* MadScientist: Dr. Ortmeyer, 47's megalomaniac creator. In ''Absolution'', any scientist you have to "deal" with.* MakeTheDogTestify: Apparently so, because if you leave a pet dog alive after killing its owner, ''it counts as a witness''.* MeaningfulName: In ''Absolution'', [[CorruptHick Sheriff Skurky]]'s name is similar to the Scandanavian word "skurk", meaning crook or villain. [[spoiler: Travis' bodyguards and the last enemies in the game, the Praetorians, are also all named after Greek and Latin words for shields. Jack Aegis, John Hoplon and Carey Scutum.]]* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Leaving out the Saints, out of the dozens and dozens of targets 47 has assassinated, so far the number of women has been six[[note]]Hannelore von Kamprad from ''Silent Assassin''; Angelina Mason, Vaana Ketlyn and Eve from ''Blood Money''; Layla Stockton and Jade Nguyen from ''Absolution''. There is also the female assassin from the mission ''You Better Watch Out'' in ''Blood Money'', who is only a target if an optional cutscene is triggered and [[spoiler:Diana Burnwood]] from ''Absolution'', whom 47 [[spoiler:actually spares]].[[/note]].* MentalStory: All but the last mission of ''Contracts''.* MiserAdvisor: Not exactly an advisor, but 47 fits this trope. When the Agency had 47 perform a job for them in ''Silent Assassin'', a mission after the information exchange, he said that he was to be paid triple the going rate (which is 100,000 [=USD=]), in gold.* MixAndMatchMan: Agent 47.* MonsterClown: During the mission ''A New Life'' in ''Blood Money'', 47 can put on a clown costume and cut people's throats open with hedgeclippers. Hilarity does not ensue... unless you're [[BlackComedy that sort of person]].* MookHorrorShow:** In the last stage of the "Attack of the Saints" in ''Absolution'', you have the opportunity to disguise yourself as a scarecrow and stalk and kill your way through the commandos sent against you.** Also in Absolution mowing through enemies like a OneManArmy will give you EnemyChatter during the battle with them shouting things from "who the hell are you" to shitting themselves when you get a few head shots in a row. This is most obvious with the Chicago Police Officers and Wade's goons.* MoralityPet:** 47 picks up a canary and keeps it as a pet over the course of ''Blood Money''. [[spoiler:He then kills it at the end of the game, because he thinks his hideout is being raided, and the bird is giving away his position by chirping]]. There's also Mei-Ling, a Chinese prostitute that 47 ends up saving in each of the first 3 games.** Although, since the third game was mostly a series of recapped (an often [[UnreliableNarrator incorrectly remembered]]) memories of missions from the first game, he technically only rescued her twice. She's nowhere to be found in ''Blood Money''... instead, [[ButtMonkey Agent Smith]] is in her place.*** She's mentioned in ''Blood Money'' in one of the newspaper's advertisements. An EasterEgg, really, since it's a dish named after her.** His background story also mentions that he kept a mouse and later a runaway laboratory rabbit as pets when he lived at the asylum. They indirectly lead to his StartOfDarkness: when an insane clone killed them, he retaliated and ran away. A man later gave him lunch before returning him to the asylum, leading him to believe he was rewarded for killing.** In ''Absolution'', 47 is tasked with protecting Victoria as per [[spoiler:Diana's]] final wishes. Because [[spoiler:like him, she is genetically engineered and suffered through painful experimentation]], he is very sympathetic towards her.* MuggedForDisguise: A very common tactic, with 47 capable of both finding disguises already lying around (generally as laundry) and killing or knocking out people for their clothes. OneSizeFitsAll, so there are very few outfits in the game (usually ones owned by people of very different, usually obese, body types or ones worn by people that the player isn't meant to disguise themselves as anyway, such as targets) that 47 cannot wear. ''Absolution'' even lets 47 steal some samurai armor in Blackwater Park and pose on armor stands to hide himself.* MultipleEndings: ''Blood Money'', depending on [[GuideDangIt whether you randomly pan the camera around and find out you're supposed to frantically analog-twirl/press W.]]* MurderByCremation: [[spoiler: How the BigBad tries to deal with 47 in the final chapter of ''Blood Money''. Whether it works or not depends on if you spin the joystick/press W enough to wake 47 out of his drug induced coma, which in turn gives you the opportunity to kill everyone assembled.]]* MurderInc: Both the Agency and the Franchise.* MurderSimulator: Surprisingly the game itself had not been condemned by this however there have been controversy over portrayal of the Shi'ites as killers as well as a smart phone app where you could send a contract to Mr. 47 to kill real people, which was quickly closed down.** Another controversy was ''Blood Money'''s ad campaign. They were fairly graphic photos of real people playing as victims of Agent 47, such as one of a cellist with his throat cut into by a garrote wire ([[BondOneLiner Classically Executed]]). Since these primarily showed up in gaming magazines with a strong youth demographic, they quickly got heat from [[MoralGuardians the concerned guardians of our society's fragile moral compass]]. * MyCarHatesMe: Working in your favor in the final level of ''Blood Money''.* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Averted; every time a rival assassin shows up, there's a hidden body somewhere nearby, like you'd need to do, and they can take about the same (or less) punishment as 47.* MythologyGag: In ''Absolution'', Birdie tells 47 that he ought to run from Blake Dexter's men. 47 responds with "I don't believe in running". A bit of a joke towards the [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy extremely twitchy guards]] who would react to 47 running with [[AllCrimesAreEqual gunfire]] in the first few games, such as ''Silent Assassin'', no doubt.** The rubber ducks from the first game make appearances in ''Silent Assassin'' and ''Absolution''.* NailEm: Why, yes, you can use a nail gun. Not very effective from anywhere but point-blank, and it requires a headshot to take down someone. Still, it's a weapon you can carry openly if you're wearing a worker's suit.* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Dr Ort Meyer in the first game (of the Mengele sort). And Hendrik Schmutz in ''Blood Money'' to some extent (white race supremacist).* NaziGrandpa: According to his small biography in the first game, Frantz Fuchs is one.* NeckSnap:** In ''Blood Money'', 47 does this to a target instead of garroting them if the kill takes place on an uneven surface. There's even a sound effect.** 47 performs this on [[spoiler:Sanchez]] (with his legs) during the CutsceneBoss battle in the ''Absolution'' mission "Fight Night". He can also perform this as a quicker alternative to knocking someone out in a stealth melee attack. * NeverTrustATrailer: ''Absolution'''s "Attack Of The Saints" trailer shows 47 engaging the entire group of Saints in direct hand-to-hand combat, brutally killing them with different hand-to-hand techniques. The game itself doesn't include any of this, and has [[spoiler:the Saints blowing up the apartment 47's in, and his hunting them down as they're spread out in pairs across the hotel and nearby cornfield, with the leader (Lasandra Dixon) off by herself near the unit's command post]].* NintendoHard:** In the second and third games, it's very hard to achieve a completely stealthful mission, because the guards are extremely skittish and will instantly raise the alarm if they see you doing anything even remotely suspicious. ''Blood Money'' tones this down a lot; so long as you have the right disguise and don't commit any criminal acts, the guards will generally ignore you.** IO Interactive has promised that the Purist mode in ''Absolution'' will be this and IO delivered. Not only does it reduce your health and your instinct capacity, it removes the new HUD so you have no idea how much ammo you have left, what weapon you're equipped with, or if you're being spotted. *** Even without Purist mode, ''Absolution'' rivals ''Codename 47'' and ''Silent Assassin'' as the most difficult ''Hitman'' experience yet. Unlike ''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money'', the guards in ''Absolution'' will quickly detect you even with the proper disguise if you do not use instinct. Moreover, the save system has been replaced by checkpoints, [[GuideDangIt many of which are found in rather obscure locations.]] These can lead to a lot of frustration if you're going for a Silent Assassin run. * NoArcInArchery: Sniper rifles have absolutely zero bullet drop. This gets especially silly when the second game has a ''crossbow'' that fires in a straight line at the range of several hundred meters.* NobodyHereButUsStatues: In one mission of ''Absolution'', 47 can wear a samurai armor and hide in plain sight as long as he stands still on a few designated places inside an exhibition room. [[spoiler:Doing it at the right time it also allows him to ambush the mission's target.]]** In the Cornfield level it is possible to obtain a scarecrow outfit and hide in plain sight by posing like one. Ironically you'll soon have several crows perching upon you.* NobodyPoops:** 47 doesn't in-game, but there are bathrooms around, and lots of other people can be counted on to use them. Makes your job easier.** The guard in ''2'''s "Anathema" mission occasionally pees.* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:** Lorne de Havilland in ''Blood Money'' is a clone of [[{{Playboy}} Hugh Hefner]] and the drug dealer leader in the tutorial is one of Snoop Dog, named "Scoop".** The two targets during the Murder at the Bazaar level in ''Hitman 2'' are clones of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.* NoGearLevel: Especially the last two missions in the second game, where you start with only your trusty strangulation wire. The last level takes place in your home base, and it is immensely satisfying when you get to your weapons storage after skulking around extremely vulnerable.** Happens again early in ''Absolution'', and it takes five missions before 47 gets his AMT Hardballers back, then happens again in a later mission where 47 is captured and starts the mission off with no equipment.* NonstandardGameOver:** You can get two in cutscene form in ''Blood Money'', the first one at Lorne de Havilland's party, where [[spoiler: a Franchise assassin stabs you in the neck if you don't kill her quickly enough]], the second being [[spoiler: stabbed to death by the completely psychotic Eve at the Heaven and Hell party, once again if you stand still and let her kill you.]]** Also, at the end of ''Codename 47'', if [[spoiler:you let Dr. Oort-Meyer get too close to you without killing him, he'll stab you with a syringe and you black out... and wake up in the sanitorium again, in a sequence that's disturbingly similar to the very start of the game...]]** In ''Absolution'''s "Operation Sledgehammer" mission, if 47 waits too long to shoot [[spoiler:Sheriff Skurky]] before he fires, 47 slowly dies as [[spoiler:Skurky]] stands over him and gloats.** Again in ''Absolution'', in the Factory Compound level, there is a room with what appears to be a large bomb suspended from the ceiling. [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything Hit the bomb too many times]] and the scene flashes white. You are then treated to a special cutscene involving a giant mushroom cloud before the game over screen appears. * NoOSHACompliance: Frequent, especially in ''Blood Money'' and ''Absolution'', in which most levels have the option of making a hit look like a horrible accident.** Taken UpToEleven in "Dexter Industries", as Dexter has mines and explosives in the main lobby of his company to reassure potential partners on their storage safety. Naturally, they can all be armed and/or detonated, including [[spoiler:''the active nuclear warhead hanging precariously over the main desk.'']]* NostalgiaLevel: Many of the missions from ''Contracts'' are remade from ''Codename 47''.** ''Hitman GO'' has a set of levels based on Curtains Down from ''Blood Money'', and another for St. Petersburg Stakeout from ''Silent Assassin''.* NotDistractedByTheSexy: 47 casually brushes off the attentions of rather loose members of the opposite sex at several points in the series. Towards the end of ''Absolution'', [[spoiler: Layla, Dexter's [[TheDragon Dragon]], attempts to distract 47 by stripping off her clothes before quickdrawing a hidden pistol on him. Throughout the scene he's clearly unimpressed, and the only reason he lets her get even that far is because he wants information from her.]]* NoticeThis: The Instinct Mode of ''Absolution'', which highlights enemy patrol paths and objects of interest.* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Diana Burnwood]] in ''Absolution".* NotSoFakePropWeapon: In ''Blood Money'', Agent 47 has the option of switching a prop Mauser C96 for a genuine working one to off an opera tenor during the execution scene in Tosca.* OlderThanTheyLook: All the main targets in the first game. This is explained by Ortmeyer's advanced cloning technology providing plenty of healthy young replacement organs which the body does not reject.* OnceAnEpisode: There'll be a sniper mission, a mission at a crowded party, a mission in the snow (or at least with it), a rescue mission involving Smith, a double-cross in the penultimate mission, and a firefight at the end.** Although ''Absolution'' is the first game in which Smith is completely absent.* OneDoseFitsAll: Played straight throughout the series. Any poison or sedative administered to any NPC will be equally effective on any of them. Sedating an NPC with a given amount of chloroform will knock them out for a fixed period of time, regardless of whether they are a petite woman or a burly Russian gangster. There is also at least one instance in which a possible means to assassinate two targets is to serve them the same poisoned drink near-simultaneously, following which they both drop dead within seconds of each other, despite their different sizes.* OneHitPolyKill: In the "St. Petersburg Stakeout" mission, 47 can snipe both targets with a single shot if he lines up the shot just right.* OminousLatinChanting: ''Hitman 2'''s theme and various tracks from ''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money''.** The track 'Apocalypse', for example, features [[http://lyrics.wikia.com/Jesper_Kyd:Apocalypse lyrics]] that speak of a [[EldritchAbomination great eternal race of builders that threaten the listener with complete cosmic destruction]].* Throughout the ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' series, the International Contract Agency had been protrayed as an extremely secret clandestine organisation, connected to most major nations' secret services and the UN, only every operating through proxies' proxies. After their reformation in ''Absolution'' however, ''something'' changed, as they began to send large squadrons of highly conscipuous operatives in ICA ''uniform'' and marked vehicles to take over urban centres, where they cordon off streets, search houses and round up civilians like a police force. At one point, [[spoiler:one of the ICA directors even swoops down on a South Dakota courthouse in an ICA helicopter and declares to the town's sheriff over megaphone that they're taking over]]. So much for subtlety.* OpiumDen: The Meat King's Party in ''Contracts''.* OptionalStealth: You can play the game like a typical ThirdPersonShooter, however you get a better rating (and thus unlock better weapons) by using stealth and deception to off your targets.* PaletteSwap: Shows up on occasion, most notably the tour groups in ''Amendment XXV''.* PapaWolf: 47 towards Victoria in ''Absolution''.* PaperThinDisguise: The main game-play premise of the series. In Absolution however, a disguise will still arouse suspicion from certain people who will then try to approach you. In response, 47 can lower his head and raise a hand over his face (which consumes Instinct) or "pacify" them if they get too close.* {{Pastiche}} / {{Homage}}: ''Absolution'' kind of [[MoodWhiplash does a 180 with the tone of the series so far]] and weaves a strange [[BMovie 70s grindhouse tone]] in with the game's modern-day setting. Creepy [[EvilCripple evil cripples]] and [[CorruptHick corrupt hicks]] make up a significant portion of the cast, there's a subtle film-grain filter applied to the visuals, and notable moments include taking a stripper's place in a birthday cake, bursting out, and slaughtering all the nearby guards in slow-mo, fighting evil stripper hitwoman nuns, and participating in a target-shooting contest with a southern belle in a cowboy hat.* PayEvilUntoEvil: 47's targets are invariably incredibly depraved criminals. It's only in ''Blood Money'' that 47 is seen killing "innocents" as part of the story. In a cutscene, 47 is seen rather pointlessly killing a postal worker for delivering a message from the Agency.** The message that the postman had delivered was a 'for your eyes only' type. * PerpetualFrowner: You'd be forgiven for thinking 47 is actually physically incapable of smiling.** He '''almost''' smirks at Blake Dexter when the latter is interrogating him about the whereabouts of his son Lenny.* PetTheDog:** He didn't have to save Mei-Ling, especially in ''Hitman 2'' where rescuing her led to a lower stealth rating.** In ''Blood Money'' 47 owns and is obviously fond of a pet canary.** In ''Absolution'', 47 casually tips a hobo while on his way to see Birdie, though he tosses the coin into a cup that was apparently full of coffee. In a later mission, 47 gives the same hobo a $20 bill.** Some of the challenges in ''Absolution'' require you to save innocent bystanders.* PistolWhipping: 47 can do this in ''Blood Money'' and ''Absolution'', to pacify human shields.** Introduced in ''Silent Assassin'' if 47 is at point blank range to anyone.* PlatonicLifePartners: 47 and Diana. * PrecisionFStrike: In ''Blood Money'', 47 reacts to [[spoiler:Diana's apparent betrayal by shouting "Bitch!" at her]]. This is the only time 47 has ever been verbally aggressive on-screen.** [[spoiler: Victoria shouts "You ''bastard!''" at Dexter before [[LittleMissBadass single-handedly taking down all of his guards.]] ]]* PressXToNotDie: In ''Absolution'', the CutsceneBoss battle against [[spoiler:Sanchez]].* PretentiousLatinMotto: The Agency's is ''Merces Letifer'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "lethal trade"]].* ProfessionalKiller: All installments have 47 working for money. In ''Silent Assassin'', his asking price starts at double the regular rate and increases as the game progresses.* PsychologicalThriller: ''Contracts''.* PsychoForHire: Often times, a target will have a few of these working for him. ''Absolution'' is filled to the brim with these. Blake Dexter, who is hardly the picture of sanity himself, has a mercenary named Wade on his payroll, who gleefully shoots an orphanage full of nuns to pieces to get one target. The Saints, meanwhile, were all recruited by Agent Travis from prisoners, domestic abuse victims, refugees and the like. Naturally, they are extremely violent and callous with human lives.* PunkInTheTrunk: Unlike most of his targets 47 needs to capture [[spoiler:Lenny]] alive (for the moment at least) so he knocks him out, sticks him in the trunk of his car, and drives out into the middle of nowhere to interrogate him.* RareGuns: All over the place...gold plated, silenced, you name it, he's fired it. His [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMT_Hardballer default pistols are rare enough as is.]]* TheRashomon: minor differences exist between several missions in ''Codename: 47'' and their remade versions in ''Contracts'': which versions are "true" is never made explicit.* RatedMForManly: This is a series about a genetically-engineered assassin violently killing arms dealers and drug barons whilst wearing awesome suits and finding big guns.* RealityBleed: The cutscenes in ''Contracts'' play with 47's fever dream hallucinations. In one, the hotel bathroom reverts to a meat locker, and in another, the hotel room door opens vertically like a cargo hold entrance, with a Russian foreman shouting instructions. * RedemptionFailure: In the second game, 47 abandons the life of crime to become a gardener for a priest, yet he's forced back into it when his employer is kidnapped. [[spoiler:In the end, he realizes that, being essentially a SuperSoldier, he can't turn his back on the business of death and goes back to being an assassin]].* RefugeInAudacity:** During "Fight Night" in ''Absolution'', 47 is required to turn over any weapons before leaving the training area that starts the level. Even if he's disguised as a trainer or the fighter himself, he promptly gives his [[WeaponOfChoice silenced Hardballers with custom ''fleur de lis'' logos]] to the guard and warns him not to lose them. Nobody bothers to question it. ** The level itself could be counted as such. You can impersonate the target's next opponent and actually go toe to toe with him, smashing his skull in and breaking his neck. In front of hundreds of witnesses with his mask off. No one questions this because they assume it was part of the fight, and no one can identify 47 because he looks so generic.** Really, the whole series can be seen as this. A bald guy with a [[ScannableMan bar code on the back of his head]] with a distinctive suit manages to sneak in, murder a target or targets under heavy armed guard and sneak back out again, often using [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts contrived and ridiculous]] means to set up [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident "accidents"]] such as falling pianos and making [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace someone accidentally shoot the target]] while just happening to be there at the scene of all of them? ''Absolution'' even lampshades this, with a frustrated Chicago PD detective openly questioning why nobody can ever identify such a man.* RegeneratingHealth: Added in ''Absolution'', although it only restores up to a portion of your total health. Also, unlike most examples it is ''extremely'' slow, so much so that it's not at all practical for combat purposes. It mostly fills up quietly while you're exploring, and is more to prevent you from getting stuck by making sure you always have at least enough health to survive a few bullets should you stumble into a firefight. Not that it matters on Purist.* RememberTheNewGuy: ''Absolution'' introduces Birdie and Tom the Tailor. The former is an information broker 47 apparently often uses, whilst the latter is the creator of 47's suits. Neither had been seen or mentioned prior to ''Absolution''.* RemixedLevel: The Hong Kong, Budapest, and asylum levels from the first game appear in ''Contracts''. The maps are, for the most part, perfectly replicated. Little touches are added to the asylum, such as a discarded syringe used by 47 to kill a patsy, Dr. Kovacs, which is still lying on the floor. * RevolversAreJustBetter: From ''Silent Assassin'' onwards, each game has at least one revolver. The "Gunslinger" playstyle from ''Absolution'' encourages the player to invoke this, by getting them to make 15 kills with a revolver. * RightHandVersusLeftHand: "The Murder of Crows" in ''Blood Money''. 47 is there to protect the Interior Secretary from assassins. So are the bodyguards, police officers, and the National Guard soldiers. But they don't know that's why 47 is there, and they'll kill him stone-cold dead if they see him with a weapon or catch him sneaking around a restricted area.* RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts: Many of the missions allow you to kill your targets through the use of indirect and often ingenious methods, though most are rather obvious or hard to pull off without getting spotted.* SaunaOfDeath:** You can rig a sauna room to explode.** In ''Contracts'', you can also tamper with a thermostat and bar the door trapping a victim with coronary problems inside.* SaveScumming: Initially averted. The first installment had no in-mission saves, with limited saves being available on later games. The number of saves decreases until you reach professional, where you only get a saved game slot as a progress bonus (but don't count on it). ''Blood Money'' introduced a "Rookie" mode, which allowed infinite saves. In Absolution it sort of brings it back to the classic games with in game check points instead of manually saving. Weirdly they don't check event flags, so if you reload to the last check point after you've set up an accidental kill before it actually killed your target you'll have to go and set it back up again.* ScannableMan: Agent 47. Right on the back of his head. In ''Absolution'', however, he tries to cut it off out of grief and a desire to cover his tracks, and covers it with a band-aid for the rest of the game. It heals up exactly the same though...* SceneryPorn: Many missions have beautiful scenery, with the embassy grounds in "Invitation to a Party" from ''Silent Assassin'', and the Heaven Party in "Dance with the Devil" from ''Blood Money'' standing out in particular.** The tutorial level in Absolution takes place in an absolutely ''gorgeous'' mansion.* SchmuckBait: Shooting a bouncer in the middle of a crowded midwest saloon? Sure, nothing could possibly go wrong there! Well, unless you count 47 being turned into a human colander as something wrong...* SecretLevel: The final mission of ''Blood Money''. So secret that, on the Xbox, you get an achievement for finishing the game ''before'' you get to it, and then a second, separate achievement for completing it.* SelfServingMemory:** Jack Alexander's summary of the missions afterwards are completely different from what actually happened, or leave out vital details. Not surprising, since [[spoiler:he's the BigBad.]]** 47 himself also counts: his recollections of events from the first game as he remembers them in ''Contracts'' paint him in much kinder light than he was presented in the first game itself. For example, when Mei Ling kisses him in the first game, he shudders in disgust, but in ''Contracts'' he's merely surprised.* SenselessViolins: 47 hides his [[SniperRifle WA 2]][[RareGuns 000]] in a guitar case during the events of ''[[TieInNovel Enemy Within]]''.* SequelHook: At the end of ''Absolution'', [[spoiler:Diana gets Agent 47 back into the Agency and Birdie decides to sell 47's identity to the police.]]* SerialEscalation: Just how corrupt is Agent 47's world is going to be? * SharedUniverse: At some points in the game, Agent 47 can run into KaneAndLynch, whose franchise was also developed by IO.* ShootTheTelevision: In ''Absolution'', part of the 'Sore Losers' level challenge in the Dexter Industries mission demands the player destroy a video game console two guards are enjoying by shooting (or otherwise breaking) the television screen. * ShoutOut:** The ''Seafood Massacre'' level gives you the choice to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSQqv2UuvC0 deposit a weapon in the restaurant's toilet, than later join the meeting taking place inside the restaurant between the mob negotiator and the Dirty Cop (after getting frisked, of course), excuse yourself to freshen up, go to the bathroom, pick up your weapon, then come back out guns blazing]]. [[Film/TheGodfather Sounds familiar?]]** The animation of someone in elevator being strangled from above is a tribute to ''Film/TheProfessional''. As is the option to dress as a SWAT member and cooperate in their armed raid in ''Contracts''. Whee!** In the newspaper article after "The Murder of Crows" level in ''Blood Money'', the police chief investigating the murders is named [[TheSimpsons Police Chief Wiggum]], and if you've run around, blowing up targets, and generally being visible, he STILL doesn't know who you are. A previous newspaper had the non-existent month in which Groundskeeper Willie died in its date - Smarch.** In "Traditions of the Trade" from ''Contracts'', you can visit a certain florist to retrieve [[{{Terminator}} a shotgun hidden in a box of red roses]].** The Silverballer in ''Blood Money'' can be configured in [[TheTerminator longslide with laser sighting]]. Bonus points for the weapon from both being an AMT Hardballer.** In ''Blood Money'', you can kill one target by [[ThePhantomOfTheOpera dropping the chandelier of the Opera Garnier onto him.]]** Jesper Kyd's score for ''Blood Money'' features snippets, samples and remixes of tracks from his various previous works - most notably, "Apocalypse" is based on a track from {{Scorcher}}, which was in turn based on "Spinner", a track from RedZone.** ''Absolution'' has a small level, in which the sole objective is to "Suit up". [[HowIMetYourMother Barney]] learned from the best... Bonus points for the picture accompanying the objective.** ''Absolution'' also features a level called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Park Blackwater Park]].** ''Absolution'' also features a level in which your targets are named [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Dr. Valentine and Dr. Ashford]].** In ''Absolution'' level Blackwater Park, two {{mook}}s can be heard discussing rumors of 47, with one saying "If Roy's right, [[{{Superman}} we are in short supply of kryptonite]]".** ''Absolution'' also features conversations about "Sanchez" and "The Patriot", a nod to the rivalry between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets, who had as a quarterback at the time... Mark Sanchez.* ShowerScene: In ''Hitman: Absolution'', [[spoiler:47 plugs Diana through her shower door.]]** 47 himself gets one just before "Attack Of The Saints."* ShownTheirWork: All of 47's incredibly badass Quick Time hand-to-hand combat moves are real-life techniques from escrima, krav maga and jujitsu.* ShroudedInMyth: 47, in spades.** This is something of a plot point in ''Blood Money''. The journalist is rightfully skeptical of the claim that the FBI took down 47, someone that the agency itself denies existing, and needs hard proof. Each and every piece of evidence given to him is taken from the missions the player has to play.** In the ''Absolution'' mission "Terminus", Blake refers to 47 as "the ghost, the myth... the Hitman!", and in the mission "Skurky's Law", a detective trying to piece together the murders is in disbelief that no one can ID the titular assassin.* SimpleYetAwesome: Sure, you could take your target with your high-tech customized silenced sniper rifle. Or you could push them over a railing into the river, hit them with a hammer, or drop something on them.* SkippableBoss: It's possible to bypass the entire endgame sequence with Mark Parchezzi in ''Blood Money'' by just dropping a remote mine near the Oval Office window, then detonating it when Parchezzi and the Vice President are both facing each other through the window.* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: The games have always been hitting a blend between the two ends of the scale, but ''Absolution'' leans a bit more towards the silly side. Some reviewers have said that the plotline is comparable to that of a [[Creator/QuentinTarantino Tarantino]] flick. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you.* SniperScopeSway: Depending on your weapon. If you are using a fully upgraded W2000, there is little sway, though it only gets a single shot. Also, sway is affected if you move and by the length of time you hold the rifle after sighting. Sway can be eliminated by canceling the sighting and adjusting your position to the next target before sighting again.* SoundtrackDissonance:** "Ave Maria" is the main menu song in ''Blood Money'' and on some maps, upbeat music is playing while you can happily slaughter your way through the innocent crowd. Furthermore, the Ave Maria [[spoiler: returns at the very end of the game, where it plays in the background of the final mission when 47 wakes up at his "funeral" and starts blowing mooks away left, right, and center]]. Specifically, the scene starts with "Ave Maria" [[spoiler: goes into a downer tune as the shooting begins, and goes back to "Ave Maria" as 47 leaves the church to finish off the survivors.]]*** "Ave Maria" shows up again in ''Absolution'': it plays at the end of the mission "Skurky's Law", where [[spoiler: 47 pulls an UnflinchingWalk while Hope, South Dakota burns in the distance.]]** "The Meat King's Party" in ''Contracts''. Finding the mutilated body of a young woman hanging upside-down by a meat hook while Paul Anka's "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" plays in the background and her murderer prowls around behind you is unnerving, to say the least.* SpannerInTheWorks: In ''Blood Money'', it's possible to ruin the plans of the person who hired you for TheDeepSouth missions [[spoiler:by killing her. If you can't tell, she's the bride in the wedding]]. It's a bad idea, since that means you fail the mission. However, she does show up in a later mission, where you can kill her and get away scot-free.* StealthRun: Required for the "Silent Assassin" title.* StealthBasedGame* StockFootage: For some strange reasons, the movie uses clips from ''DarkAngel'' to show 47's childhood.* TheStraightAndArrowPath: In ''Hitman 2'', 47 brings along a crossbow for his trip into the Japanese snow mountains. Sound obviously carries far there, and a gun wouldn't be as practical for long-range shooting.* StrictlyFormula: But the formula is improved and expanded on with each installment. See OnceAnEpisode.* SuperDrowningSkills:** In ''Blood Money'', arranging an "accidental" drowning is as simple as pushing an NPC headfirst into a hot tub.** Or better yet, pushing someone over into a pool ''as they're walking into it for a swim'' instantly kills them.* SuperPrototype: 47 is a vastly smarter and superior killer than his so called "upgrades" the 48s, as well as much better than any of the knockoff versions.* JustForFun/SurprisinglySimilarStories[=/=]WholePlotReference: An old Soviet-Polish movie called "Deja Vu" introduces its protagonist in a scene that can be recreated [[IncrediblyLamePun shot-for-shot]] in this game with the Opera level - [[spoiler: here, too, a hitman has to assassinate a performer in a play of "Tosca", and his on-stage execution scene is the perfect opportune moment for it. In the movie, he is shot with a sniper rifle, though other options are also available to 47.]]* TheStinger: The final stage of ''Blood Money'' starts with the credits rolling while 47 is [[spoiler:laying on a cremation table at his own funeral.]]** After the epilogue of ''Absolution'', a scene plays where Birdie approaches a detective tracking down 47 and offering to help him.* TheStoic: Agent 47 kills with little to no emotion its actually very disturbing but [[CreepyAwesome awesome]].* SWATTeam: 47 has to deal with various special police forces, mainly in Romania (penultimate level of ''Codename 47'' and first level of ''Contracts'') and France (the GIGN in the last level of ''Contracts''). They're usually deadlier than previous mooks, armed with the best submachine guns and equipped with bulletproof vests.* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: Seems somebody at IO was a Puressence fan, as "Walking Dead" can be heard playing in a biker bar/strip club 47 visits (''Contracts''). The lyrics are plainly from 47's perspective.* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: There are many opportunities for 47 to do this.* TapOnTheHead: In ''Blood Money'', 47 can knock people out by smacking them on the back of the head with his pistol. If you leave them where they lie and someone stumbles onto them, they can be revived almost instantly. It's probably justified in the fact that 47 is slightly super-human.* TemptingFate: In the tutorial mission for ''Absolution'', Agent 47 can overhear a guard being told by his doctor that he's tested negative for prostate cancer. Excited by the good news, the guard happily proclaims ''absolutely nothing'' can ruin this day and [[DisneyVillainDeath decides to stand in front of window overlooking a cliff]].* ThirdPersonShooter* TimedMission:** In ''Blood Money'''s "The Murder of Crows", once the courier delivers the payment to Mark Purayah, the Secretary will be assassinated after taking a couple of laps of the parade route in his float. Stopping the courier from making the payoff allows you to TakeYourTime (and makes it easier to fulfill the optional objective of keeping the case).** The "Countdown" mission in ''Absolution'' is exactly what it means - 47 has four-and-a-half minutes to stop Blake Dexter before he leaves the building's roof with Victoria.** In "Deadly Cargo" from ''Contracts'', the target will eventually detonate a nuke, causing the mission to fail, although it takes a long time to happen.* TooDumbToLive: In ''Absolution'', many of the signature kills involve taking advantage of the target's own stupidity. A short list of Website/{{Darwin Award|s}} winners include: a thug who decides to smoke next to a gas pump and pile of fireworks, a nightclub owner standing under a disco ball he knows has a high chance of falling on him, a scientist who stands on a non-reinforced glass floor several stories above the ground, and a scientist who decides to test an experimental hair growth formula on himself** So, Dexter, your gargantuan bodyguard has [[spoiler:incapacitated 47 and has him helpless at your feet. Do you a) shoot him between the eyes and vamanos, or b) frame him for murder and leave him alive?]] Guess which he chooses. Oh, and later, [[spoiler:when 47 is captured by [[DirtyCop Skurky]]]], he ''does it again''. ** The second time he's justified because [[spoiler:47 has kidnapped his son so if he killed him he would have no chance of finding him]]** 47 himself. The aforementioned [[spoiler:incapacitation and framing]] only happened because when 47 encountered that gargantuan bodyguard, completely alone an unarmed, he '''tries to garotte him!''' That's right, the so called "master assassin" tries to choke to death a guy twice his size and far more muscular. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, that's sure to work!]]*** 47 admits afterwards that he had gotten overconfident and paid the price.* TragicBromance: [[spoiler:Tommy and Natt, two of the cops from the ''Absolution'' E3 demo.]]* TrailersAlwaysLie: After watching the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKnkUzA1NHE&feature=related trailer]] for ''Blood Money'' you'd rather expect Parchezzi to be your nemesis throughout the game rather than two rather lackluster encounters. It also portrays the game as more of an action shooter than a stealth game, leaving dozens of dead bodies would give you a terrible score in any Hitman game, but is especially out of place here, where the game gives you much more of an emphasis on stealth. It also shows 47 taking a bead on a senator with a sniper rifle; in the actual game, your mission is to ''save'' that senator.* TranslationConvention: Cringe-inducingly played straight in ''Codename 47'', and notably (and thoroughly) averted thereafter.* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Getting the "Silent Assassin" rating can be like this occasionally. It usually involves using the environment, sometimes in rather unintuitive ways. For example, in ''Hitman 2: Silent Assassin,'' one mission includes a smoke bomb in your starting equipment. You need to go into the building's laundry room and drop the smoke bomb down the chute, then hightail it over to the fire station, wait for the firemen to deploy, then sneak in and steal a uniform and axe so you can clear the security checkpoint with no questions asked, then run as fast as you can to the basement where your target is located, axe him in the head, then run back upstairs and escape via the elevator before the fire alarm ends. There's pretty much no way to figure all this out on your first playthrough without a guide.* TwoShotsFromBehindTheBar: In the "Massacre at Cheung Chau Fish Restaurant" level of ''Codename 47'', if 47 pulls a weapon on the bartender, he will duck behind the bar and unload a sawed-off shotgun on him.* UnexpectedGameplayChange:** In ''Codename 47'', the final battle is a shootout in a maze-like arena against a respawning opponent (10 clones that are released one after the other) that constantly run around while shooting instead of standing still and aiming like every other enemy in the game. So, after a game of witty, disguise-based stealth gameplay, the finale is an ''Unreal Tournament'' deathmatch. The level opening suggests that the ''intended'' method for winning the fight is not to go toe-to-toe against the clones, but rather to use your brain and camp using a convenient nearby minigun and ambush the clones as they appear one by one.** The final mission of ''Blood Money'' expects 47 to win a shootout against a horde of agents and the BigBad (although it is possible, albeit very difficult, to kill them all with "accidents").* UnreliableNarrator:** Jack Alexander in ''Hitman: Blood Money''. Turns out [[spoiler:he's the BigBad.]]** And 47 himself in ''Contracts'': all of the missions are really him remembering past missions, but his memory is clearly colored by his present state (i.e.: ambushed, shot and dying alone in a shitty hotel room).** One could argue that ''all'' of the games, even those without an explicit narrator, feature this to one degree or another.* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:** Even if he doesn't do anything criminal in front of them, you'd think witnesses would remember the tall bald guy with a [[ScannableMan barcode tattoo on the back of his head]] who was hanging around shortly before the murder(s) and disappeared shortly after. Especially since, absent a disguise, 47 always retains his BadassInANiceSuit look, even in situations where wearing a suit and tie makes him stick out.** This trope is referenced (and explained using the above description) in ''Absolution'' by a detective at the beginning of "Skurky's Law".* UpdatedRerelease: Half of ''Contracts'' is composed of facelifted missions from ''Codename 47'', tweaked to allow for a less bloody approach. A notable absence is the Columbia missions; however, the Chilean mission in ''Blood Money'' has a similar jungle/drug lab setting (Don Fernando even wears a similar outfit to Pablo's).* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: At the end of ''Hitman: Codename 47'', the genetically engineered clone Agent 47 faces not one, but an entire army of the new-and-upgraded "48" clones. He manages to defeat them but it helps that he finds a [[MoreDakka minigun]] lying around and he has to kill one of the 48s to get said minigun. * VerticalKidnapping: You can do this via hiding at the top of an elevator and scooping up unlucky victims with your fibre wire, though the whole "kidnapping" part might be averted in the fact that the victim is dead...* VideoGameCaringPotential: ''Absolution'' has a few challenges or optional methods to save innocent bystanders from being killed by the antagonists.* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: While the series puts an emphasis on stealth from ''Silent Assassin'' and onwards, players can complete a mission by using any means available to them.** Some people see how many people they can murder with a hammer without being discovered in ''Blood Money''.*** Harder than it sounds, as even with a proper disguise, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything hammers look pretty suspicious when covered in blood]].** Even more so, it's possible to complete nearly every mission in the second game with the golf club alone, with a Silent Assassin rating.** Most of the settings take this UpToEleven-- nothing says heroism like slaughtering the entire population of a quiet suburb or massacring all the patients and staff of a rehab clinic. It's entirely possible to kill everyone on most levels; sometimes, you can even do so stealthily, though obviously that requires a bit of patience.*** The "End of the Road" mission in ''Absolution'' is all about letting you get creative with how you dispatch a certain target... or driving away, leaving him exposed to the elements in the middle of a desert.** Large number of possible ratings (Terrorist, Mass Murderer, Sociopath, Deranged Slayer etc.) motivates one to experiment.** Here's a fun trick in ''Blood Money'': in one mission, a woman will invite you to a private room, only to reveal herself to be an assassin herself. After you kill her, a guard passes by outside. Sedate him, take his clothes, and hide the body in the other room...by dragging him on top of the assassin's body. What's he going to think when he wakes up?** One of the achievements in ''Blood Money'' is to get exactly 47 kills. This game encourages reckless abandon and merciless slaughter. Especially made fun on the "A New Life" when you set up a sniping spot and gun down each and every FBI agent and neighbor they can manage.** Happens a lot in ''Absolution''. In the very first mission, you come across a guard getting the good news that he does not have prostate cancer, [[TemptingFate declaring that nothing can screw up this day]]. In another, you find a Dexter Industries employee who just had a baby girl the day before, with another employee congratulating him. * VideoGameRemake: ''Contracts'' remade several levels from the PC-exclusive original ''Codename 47''.* VillainProtagonist: He ''is'' a hitman, after all...* VillainousIncest: In the "Death on the Mississippi" mission in ''Blood Money'', 47 is told to recover photographs proving that his target, drug runner Skip Muldoon, has been having an affair with his niece. It is heavily implied that the niece is the client who hired him for the job in question. Also, the bride and groom in the "Til' Death Do Us Part" mission in the same game are cousins, which means that [[spoiler:the bride was the niece from the previous mission and she was the one who hired 47 for both missions.]]* WalkingTheEarth* WeaponOfChoice: 47's signature weapons are a pair of custom stainless steel AMT Hardballer pistols with stylized fleurs-de-lis engraved on the slides and Pachmayr American Legend grips. He also carries a Fiber Wire for silent, stealthy strangulations.* WeGottaStopMeetingLikeThis: Agent Smith, an incompetent CIA [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment agent]] that 47 keeps having to rescue, says this eventually. 47 notes that it's unlikely.* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Phony as they may be, most of the accents in the series are identifiable, with the notorious exception of the bartender from 'Gunrunner's Paradise' in ''Codename 47'', who can't seem to decide whether he's Russian, Scottish or German.* WhiteVoidRoom: The original game ends in one; its loose remake, ''Contracts'', begins in that same room and has you escape from the facility before the SWAT team busts in.** One cutscene in the second game will use this effect regardless of 47 where actually is, as if to convey that nothing else matters at the moment. The entire background will disappear until the cutscene is over.** Should 47 be caught by the female counter-assassin in ''Blood Money'', the above effect will occur.* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The newspapers ending each level in ''Blood Money'' will always give the 72 point treatment to whichever assassination 47 has just pulled off. Meanwhile, stories like ''the death of the United States vice president'' are relegated to minor blurbs. Vaguely justified in that the report about the Veep's death is in a foreign newspaper.* YouALLLookFamiliar: Quite a few points in the games, but most notably the crowd in New Orleans in ''Blood Money'', which consists of no more than a dozen individual character templates, cloned across hundreds, if not ''thousands'' of people. Needless to say, it's quite noticeable. Having said that, ''Blood Money'' was one of the very first games to have such a huge crowd of completely autonomous polygonal characters, so they probably had to make compromises somewhere.* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Dr. Ort-Meyer had 47 kill the other four genetic donors of the cloning project so he wouldn't have to share the fruits of his work, and he tried to have 47 killed off, deeming him obsolete after completing the 48 series of clones. Naturally, 47 doesn't take that well and kills his last father and all of his brothers.* ZombieApocalypse - No, seriously. It's an Easter egg on the "Death on the Mississippi" level of ''Blood Money''. Everyone is given limping animation or the dragging animation, and anything ''but'' sufficient damage from explosives or a headshot can kill them. They use melee attacks, which are incredibly ineffective against 47, so the mission's a cakewalk. Having to kill everyone on the cruise ship gets you a ''much'' lower ranking than Silent Assassin, but whatever.